A few days ago, I was having a very critical problem with Internet data usage in my Android phone. I noticed a great leap in my Android phone’s data usage. In fact, my data usage was suddenly and extremely increased, and even beyond my estimation. According to the built in data usage app, in just 6 days I used near 5 GB data and 2 GB in just a few hours. It was really worth thinking and concerning issue, but I found the solution.
There may be many reasons of sudden data usage increment, and similarly you can use different ways to minimize your data usage in your Android phone. Honestly, this article is all about how I reduced my Android phone’s data usage easily.
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Here’s How I Reduced Data Usage in My Android Phone
Since there are many reasons of data usage increment, hence there are many ways to minimize the data usage. Following are the three simple and most effective ways I tried and succeed in minimizing data usage in my Android phone.
1. Restrict background data
It’s one of most effective method to minimize data usage in Android phone. If you’re using lots of Android apps that keep running in the background, it means they also might consume your Internet data. So, don’t take risk because it may be the main reason of huge data usage in your phone.
When I found that the total of 10 apps in my Android phone run in background and even consume data in the background without my permission, I was shocked and start finding the way to disable the data usage for background apps. And finally I got the solution, that I also explained in my previous article.
So, you should restrict background data in your Android phone, at least for some apps (you can disable specific apps from using data in background).
Read out THIS GUIDE to learn how to restrict background data in Android phone to reduce/minimize your data usage.
2. Stop apps from updating automatically
However, I know about this fact already so I disabled Android apps from updating automatically. You also should stop apps from updating automatically. It may lead instant and extra data usage without your permission. Though updating the apps is very necessary but still if you don’t wanna spend your data in updating apps or you only wanna update specific apps manually whenever you want, you should stop apps from updating automatically.
For this go to Play Store > Settings and tap on Auto update apps. Now choose Do not auto-update apps. That’s all. Now your apps won’t update anymore. Isn’t it give you extra control over your data?
Still, if you’re having difficulty to disable apps from automatic updating, don’t worry. I’ve already written an article that will give you 2 simple ways to stop Android apps from updating automatically with relevant screenshots. You can read it out HERE.
3. Use WiFi Hotspot as less as possible
In the above screenshot you can see that I didn’t recommend “Auto-update apps over WiFi only” because I observed a great problem due to this. In fact, whenever you will choose “Auto-update apps over WiFi only”, it’s sure that apps will only update when WiFi is available but if you use WiFi hotspot in your Android phone, it will start automatically updating apps even when you’re not connected with a WiFi.
This is because whenever you open the WiFi hotspot, it means your phone is connected with a WiFi even when your regular Internet balance is draining.
I know this because I used to connect my laptop using WiFi hotspot feature in my Android phone and one day I checked the data usage, and what I saw that Hostspot consumed the total of approx 5 GB of Internet in just 6 days and 2 GB in just a few hours because it updated all the apps in my phone that was chosen to update when WiFi is available. That’s why, I decided to use WiFi hotspot as less as possible. Because if I choose “Do not auto-update apps” still I have a fear of auto-update of my smartphone’s software (that doesn’t have the option like “Do not auto-update software”) that might consume the total of 3 GB of my regular data in few hours.
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That’s all!
That’s all. I tried all the three methods mentioned above and succeed. These three methods helped me minimize the data usage in my Android phone.
If your data usage also suddenly increased, you should try them, at least once and I’m sure these methods will help you reduce your data usage.
None of your instructions relate to my android.
Yes Raman, you’re right bro. I checked my data usage and tethering/wifi hotspot is really consuming more data. It’s really a big problem!!
Try using hotspot as less as possible 🙂 And also apply the other two methods mentioned above.