Editor’s Note on 7/29/2010: PlanHawk was not available on the iTunes App Store for a short while, but it’s back and better than ever according to the developers at Kidoc.
On Thursday, July 22, Kidoc LLC announced an exciting new product for iPhone iOS4 users: PlanHawk.
This mobile app fixes a serious problem many iPhone users face on a monthly basis: Exceeding their data plan coverage.
With the new AT&T capped data plans, users face the problem of going over their limit, and being charged excessive fees. PlanHawk’s $.99 application monitors the phone’s data usage, allowing people to avoid steep charges.
This application is especially useful to iPhone 4 users, who now can use HD video and stream rich media. These new features eat up data at an alarming rate, and could force you way over your limit very quickly without you knowing.
And honestly, do you really know how much data certain applications and functions take up? There is no sign that says, “HD video will use 25 MB in 30 minutes.”
This is where PlanHawk can help you start to understand what takes up data.
While PlanHawk does not monitor what each application uses, you can easily analyze what you have been using, and how it correlates to your recent amount of data usage.
The app doesn’t just monitor monthly, but weekly data usage as well. Along with that information, it provides the predicted amount of data you will use based on the amount used so far — that way you can change your plan if need be, before it’s too late.
PlanHawk will not only save you from going over your data plan by accident, but also help you decide what plan you need. The app provides the data plan they recommend using (if change is necessary), and the amount you would save if you switched, as well.
If you are an iPhone user with an unlimited data plan, you may find with PlanHawk you use less than the maximum one of the other plans offer. Doing this could save you up to hundreds of dollars per year.
Getting recommendations from an application is all well and good, but it is easy to forget to translate that into changing your account later on.
Fortunately, one of the best features PlanHawk added to their application is the fact that you can connect to your AT&T account right in the application. This allows you to put their recommendations into action immediately.
Don’t let AT&T’s new capped data plan get you down, because we think this $.99 application will allow you to avoid over usage, better understand the functionality of your phone, and save money by knowing your data usage.
Is this a application that will help you? Were you screwed by the recent change in AT&T’s data coverage? Let us know what you think about all this in the comments section below.
