Restrict app data on cellular networks on Android
One of the negative side effects of my cheap mobile subscription is that I only have 200 Megabytes of free high speed mobile data per month after which the speed is artificially limited to snail-like speed.
While apps and the device appear to use wireless connections whenever available, they don't have any issues transferring data if WiFi is not enable but cellular data is.
That's a problem as you can imagine and while I try to keep an eye on that, it is not as easy as it sounds. Disabling cellular data works in those scenarios but that means that no app or the device receive data in that time.
That's fine before you go to sleep for example but may not work during the day.
One option that I have made use of for a while is to restrict app data on cellular networks for select applications on my Android device.
Google calls this app background data restrictions and it is important to note that this blocks applications from using data only when they are not in the foreground.
The Facebook application for instance would not check for new messages or updates when it is restricted by the setting. As soon as you load it however, it will use the data connection to check for and display updates.
That's actually a solid way to disable distractions as well as you will receive less notifications after making those changes.
Restrict background data on Android
It is easy enough to configure for individual applications. There is however no option to enable it for all applications on the device.
Update: Turns out you can disable background data for all apps at once as well. To do so tap on the menu while on the Usage Data page and select restrict background data from the context menu to do so.
- Open the Settings on your device.
- Locate the Data Usage option in the settings and tap on it.
- There you find information about the current month's data usage, options to enable or disable cellular data, and to set monthly limits.
- If you scroll down on that page, applications and their data usage are listed.
- Tap on an app that you want to restrict and move the slider under "restrict app background data" on the page that opens to the right to enable the restriction.
- Repeat the process for any other application that you want to restrict as well.
Obviously, you may not want to do this for applications that you rely on. If you want to receive notifications of new emails or messages, then you should not restrict these applications as you will stop receiving them otherwise.
Now You: Have another tip? Feel free to share it in the comment section below.
Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?