How to disable app specific background data download

I heard many of my friends complaining about their smartphone's data download from their mobile network in the background. There are multiple apps and services by Google which will consume your mobile data network and you might end up in getting high data usage bills. You might have disabled download of updates while using mobile data network and might have enabled update/download only when connected to WiFi. Even after doing this there are few services, reporting of errors and other background data that might be downloaded which will again consume data.

Also check: How to monitor internet usage for an App

Note that each app or service will have something called background and foreground data consumption. If you have an Android device (with Android version 4 and above) then you can see data consumed by individual app. If you scroll down further you will have multiple options and details on how much of consumed data is foreground and background.

Also check: How to monitor mobile data usage on Android device 

Usually, the foreground data consumed is more than background - when you browse on your mobile device. Where as in apps like Bit Torrents you will find background is more than foreground data consumption. You can always go to app settings and disable background data consumption if there is an option available in the app. You can do it directly change the settings in app or as shown in the above screen, tap on 'View app settings' and change settings there. If an app doesn't have this option to disable it then 'View app settings' will be grayed out.

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Even if there is no option to disable an app from consuming data, in Android settings (as shown above) there is an option to restrict background data when your device is on mobile data network. Just enable/check the 'Restrict background data' option. This will disable background consumption of data when on mobile data network. Background data will be auto enabled when on WiFi for that app. So, you will have to manually do this for individual app.

Also check: How to Limit Background Processes on your Android device

I would recommend to enable this option to all the apps that are installed by you and for those apps which are not related to core Android operating system. Keep this option disabled for Google services. You can disable this option too. You always have the option to uncheck 'Restrict background data'. Note that enabling or disabling this option will only affect the background and not the foreground data consumption. If you still have a doubt then I would recommend you to enable and disable mobile data network manually. Enable mobile data network only when you need it and disable it when not in use.

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