How do I save data on an android phone ?

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Captain_Amazing

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Upon purchasing my first android phone a couple of years ago, within 20 minutes on the device, I had ran out of my R30 airtime. I have heard many folks complain about how their android phones being airtime and data guzzlers. This is are some tips on how people can save data on android phones:

1. On settings, go to Accounts & sync and disable auto sync. This will make your phone stop synchronizing apps in the background even when you are asleep and obviously not using your phone.

2. Quite often we stop using an app but leave it open and open other apps. These apps might still be active in the background and using your data.


3. Read and have a clear understanding of what an app wants to do. Apps like Dropbox might ask to automatically upload pictures to your Dropbox account, one picture might be about a megabyte depending on the camera settings.

4. If you prefer having your e-mails being synchronized onto your phone, select the best time for them to synchronize instead of them always synchronizing. You can select to have them synchronize every 30 minutes, hourly or any other time frame you are comfortable with.

5. If enabled, disable auto- update of apps from Play Store. This change can be made at the play store. Go to settings, choose the auto-update apps option and disable auto-update.

6. For moments when you are not using your phone or when going to sleep, switch off your mobile data connection. Get a widget for this so this process can be done effortlessly and quickly.


Hope you find these tips useful :)
 
I agree with most of the above.

However, if you'd like to go a step further, install DroidWall. That gives you absolute control of what uses the internet when using WiFi or Mobile Data.

In the newer versions of Android (I think I last used DroidWall when I had 2.3 running), you can restrict apps using mobile data by:

1. Going to settings
2. Tapping on Data Usage
3. Tap on the app you want to restrict
4. Check the box under "Restrict Background data usage"

DroidWall became obsolete for me after I discovered that :P
 
You can also set apps to only update when on WiFi.
 
Facebook, being one of the most popular apps, is also one of the heaviest on data. It updates your timeline even when you aren't using the phone.

I recommend the app Klyph. It's a facebook app replacement. Uses no background data (or very minimal), has a better user interface and only refreshes your timeline when you open the app, which is of course what you want.
 
With regard to Point number 6, always remember that turning off data, will mean that you will not be able to send or receive anything, such as whatsapps/bbm's or other instant messages. However SMS's and Calls will obviously still work. Also, once you have taken those steps, there is (in android 4.0+) a 'Data Usage' option in settings, which will allow you to monitor what is using data, and either uninstall or try to restrict the offending apps :)
 
If you choose to switch off data it's easier to just enable flight mode.
 
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