If nothing else, restrict app updates to Wi-Fi : One of the easiest background data hogs to strike down right
out of the gate is the background data consumed by application updates. Updates are necessary and
welcome both for security purposes and access to new features, but there aren’t any updates so critical that you absolutely need to get at them before you connect to the next Wi-Fi access point. By default, any apps set
to automatically update will do so over both mobile data and Wi-Fi. You can change this by launching the Play
Store app, pressing the menu button, and then selecting Settings –> Update over Wi-Fi only . Toggling this
setting on will save you untold amounts of mobile data usage over the life of the phone. A quick note before we continue: as we talk about restricting background data usage, we want to make it
very clear that these restrictions only apply to your mobile data usage; even if you heavily restrict anapplication it will still function normally when you are on
Wi-Fi.First, let’s investigate which apps are actuallygenerating notable amounts of background data. In the Settings –> Wireless & Networks –> Data Usage
section we highlighted a moment ago, you can click on individual applications to see a more detailed view. Here
we can see the foreground and background usage:
Restricting data via Android: You can approach limiting
background data one of three ways: total blackout,individual blackout, or app-based settings.You can turn off all background data—this reduces your
data usage immensely in most instances but it can also be inconvenient as it doesn’t differentiate between data
sippers and data hogs and whether or not you find the background data is useful. From the Data Usage menu
you can press the menu key and check Restrict background data. This will turn off background data for all applications.
For a less intrusive, but less convenient, option, you can click on each individual application and check off. Restrict background data. This is more of a hassle butis more flexible in that you can opt to only restrict the
biggest data hogs on your list.
Restricting data via individual apps: If possible, you can often tweak settings in the individual applications.
Rather than use Android to restrict Facebook’s data use, for example, you can jump into the Facebook app
and turn down the frequency of push notifications or turn them off altogether. Not only does turning off notifications and constant polling cut down on your datause but it’s great for extending your battery life. Not every app will have these kind of settings (or as fine-tooth control as you wish) so be prepared to
fallback on restricting the background data from the outside. The downside of adjusting the data use inside
the application, however, is that it won’t automatically switch to more liberal data use when you switch over
from cellular data to Wi-Fi data as it would if Android was doing the restricting.Installing a third-party data manager : At this point
you’re either thinking how wonderful it is that Android built-tools provided just what you needed or you’re
wishing for a more detailed, more control at your finger tips, widgets-coming-out-the-gills tool. If you’d like to
spend less time digging in the System menu and more time reviewing app data and easily toggling settings, we
can’t recommend free Onavo Count enough. Not only is it an improvement over the built-in monitoring provided
by Android 4.0+ phones it works on phones with Androidversions as low as Android 2.2.Onavo is as in your face or as quiet in the background
as you want it to be. The first time you run it you tell itwhat your data cap is, when your billing cycle resets,
and it begins monitoring immediately. You can set alerts
for not just broad data usage but also usage whileroaming as well as custom alerts for data-hogging
applications. Onavo even features predictive alerts that warn you if your current data usage patterns will lead to
you burning through your data well before the month is up.
Installing a data kill-switch : If all of this monitoring,tinkering, and tweaking seems like too much work, you can go for the simplest solution of all, a data kill switch.
One of the most popular options in the Play Store is
Data ON-OFF .
This is by far the least elegant solution to managing your mobile data usage (and akin to turning off your
home’s power at the fuse box to save on electricity instead of assessing the kind of appliances and devices
you’re using), but if you just want a simple way to kill the mobile data without having to fuss with application
permissions or monitoring it’s the way to go. Watch out for part 2
