Some carriers are more generous with data than others. Whether you are a prepaid user or a postpaid user, you will find it most unlimited plans have usage thresholds. If you are not careful, you may see your service get throttled towards the end of the month, or even get a big bill because you are still on a plan with a hard data ceiling. Android data monitoring feature can help you avoid slow speeds and large bills. With Android Data Modes, you set a data limit for your monthly cycle and enable data save mode to reduce background usage. Here’s everything you need to know about data usage and data saving modes on Android.
Check data usage on most Android devices
If you are using a Pixel phone or a standard Android device (Nokia, Motorola, etc.), follow the steps below and check data usage.
- Swipe up from the home screen and open the app drawer menu. Find and open the Settings app (the one with a gear icon).
- Go to Network and internet menu.
- choose SIM card.
- Push The app’s data usage from the following menu.
- You can check the set cycle, the total data consumption during that period and the data consumption of installed apps.
Check data usage on Samsung phones and tablets
As expected, the steps to control data usage are different on all Galaxy phones, as Samsung uses a completely different Android skin (One UI).
- Swipe up from the home screen and open the app drawer. Open the Settings app.
- Push Connections.
- choose Data consumption.
- Push Use of mobile data.
- You will see a familiar data usage graph with all relevant details such as billing cycle, data usage limit, data usage alert limit and consumption of installed apps on the phone.
You can control Wi-Fi data usage from the same Data consumption menu.
How to use data saving mode on most Android phones
If you are running out of mobile data, you can enable data saving mode and cut down on data usage by preventing apps from using data in the background.
- Open Network and internet menu on your Android phone (see steps above).
- Push Data saver.
- Activate Use Data Saver switch.
You can also activate data saving mode from the quick change menu. Swipe down from the top and open the message center. Swipe down again and open the quick change menu. Swipe left to check more options and press Data saver.
While data saving mode is useful for reducing mobile usage, you should not keep it enabled for important apps like WhatsApp and Gmail.
- Push Unlimited data from Data saver menu.
- Enable on / off for relevant apps from the following menu.
These apps will continue to consume data in the background and function normally.
How to use Data Saver on Samsung phones and tablets
Samsung not only offers data saving mode but also has an ultra data saving feature to trim the data usage.
- Open Settings and go to Connections menu (check the steps above).
- choose Data consumption.
- Push Data saving.
- Activate data saving switch and add exceptions to allow apps to use data while data saving is turned on.
- Go back to Data consumption menu and scroll down to Ultra data saving fashion.
- Activate Ultra data saving mode and the system will start compressing images, videos and received data.
The feature completely blocks background data for all apps and compresses data using the Samsung Max service. You can customize ultra-data saving mode from the data compression menu and add up to six apps that can use mobile data while running in the background.
How to check your data usage from the Android Home screen
Google and Samsung offer no way to control data usage on the home screen. Thanks to a third-party app called My Data Manager, you can place a data usage widget on the home screen and keep track of your usage without navigating to the Settings menu.
Download the My Data Manager app on your phone using the link below and open the app to set data limits for mobile data and Wi-Fi. Place the app widget on the home screen and you’re good to go.
Keep a close eye on data usage
With millions of apps and games from the Google Play Store and dozens of streaming services at your fingertips, it’s pretty easy to run out of mobile data on our phones. By using the above steps, you can keep the data consumption under control and prevent apps from consuming data in the background.
