How to Check Verizon Data Usage (and See Which App Used It)
Check Verizon data usage with #3282, the My Verizon app or website, see how usage alerts work, and find which app or device used your data on your phone.
4 min readUpdated
The short answer
Dial #3282 (#DATA) from your Verizon phone, open the My Verizon app, or sign in to My Verizon online and go to the Usage page. All three show how much data each line has used in the current bill cycle.
What Verizon shows is how much. It does not show which app on your phone used it. For that, check your phone's own settings.
Dial #DATA (#3282)
The quickest check is the dial code. From the Verizon phone you want to check, dial #3282 and press call. Verizon replies with your usage details.
Check in the My Verizon app
- 1Open the My Verizon app and sign in.
- 2Tap the Mobile tab (or Home, depending on your plan). The Usage section shows the account's usage for the current bill cycle.
- 3Tap Usage, then tap the down arrow next to the current device and pick a number to see that line's usage.
- 4For older cycles, open Usage tools, choose one of the past three cycles and download a data report as Excel, CSV or PDF.
Check on the My Verizon website
Sign in to My Verizon in a browser and open the Usage page. On monthly accounts it shows talk, text and data use for each line on the account, and you can look back at previous cycles. Prepaid accounts show recent data usage on the account home screen.
How Verizon usage alerts work
- Who gets them. On monthly plans, the account owner gets usage alerts by text and email. Other members on the account get at least a text.
- Where to change them. Alert settings live in My Verizon, under notification or communication preferences.
- Unlimited plans. Verizon says usage alerts are not sent for Unlimited allowances or for internet devices such as mobile hotspot devices. If you are on Unlimited, don't wait for a text: check the app instead.
Per line, yes. Per app, no.
Verizon counts data for each line on the account. That is enough to see that one phone used more than the others, but not why. Verizon's usage page does not list the apps that used the data.
Hotspot is similar. When you share your phone's connection, Verizon counts that data as part of the line's total. Its support page says phone hotspot data doesn't show separately on the My Verizon usage page, so a laptop on your hotspot simply makes the phone's number bigger.
Why Verizon's number and your phone's number differ
The two counts rarely match exactly. Common reasons:
- Different start dates. Verizon counts from your bill cycle. iPhone counts from the last time you reset the statistics, which can be months ago.
- Timing. The #DATA estimate may leave out the last 24 hours.
- Different measuring points. Your phone measures on the phone. Google notes that some carriers measure usage differently.
For billing, Verizon's number is the one that counts. For finding the cause, the phone's number is more useful because it is split by app.
See which app used your data
On iPhone: open Settings > Cellular and scroll down to the list of apps. Each one shows the cellular data it used since the last reset. More detail is in How to Check Data Usage on iPhone.
On Android: open Settings > Network & internet, tap your SIM, then App data usage. On Samsung, look under Settings > Connections > Data usage. Set the cycle to start on your Verizon billing day so the totals line up.
If one app is far ahead of the rest, see Which Apps Use the Most Mobile Data?.
On another carrier? See How to Check AT&T Data Usage (and See Which App Used It) or How to Check T-Mobile Data Usage (and See Which App Used It).
Summary
- Dial #3282 (#DATA) for a quick estimate. It may miss the last 24 hours.
- The My Verizon app and website show data used per line for the current bill cycle.
- Verizon does not send usage alerts on Unlimited allowances.
- Verizon shows usage per line, not per app. Phone hotspot data is folded into the line's total.
- For a per-app list, use Settings > Cellular on iPhone or Network & internet on Android.