Stopping phone apps using mobile data

[TonyC]

Hi All, and a happy new year.

Is there any way you can stop an app from accessing mobile data?
Instagram and Spotify in particular, but I have others I would like disabled as well.
I have background data off, but they are still using more data than I think they should, and more data then I have.
Phone is a Samsung Note 9, Android 10.
Thanks in advance.

Tony

[p38arover]

I know how to do it on an iPhone but not Android.

[101RRS]

Go into settings, select Apps and Notifications - under recent apps listed at the top you will see See All $% apps - select that - then select the app you are are interested in from the list - you will see near the top Open, Uninstall, Force Stop - select Force Stop and this will stop the app but not remove it. If you open it you will have to go through the process again.

Garry

[TonyC]

Go into settings, select Apps and Notifications - under recent apps listed at the top you will see See All $% apps - select that - then select the app you are are interested in from the list - you will see near the top Open, Uninstall, Force Stop - select Force Stop and this will stop the app but not remove it. If you open it you will have to go through the process again.

Garry

Thank for that, but there must be a better way.
For the last month I've just been turning off mobile data, unless I need it on, with no change in Instagram, Spotify sometimes gets a bit cranky as does Google Maps.

Tony

[101RRS]

It literally takes 2 secs to do. About as long as it does to turn mobile data off.

[TonyC]

It literally takes 2 secs to do. About as long as it does to turn mobile data off.

But it doesn't solve the problem if I'm listening to music on Spotify in the car.
I'm using a saved play list, Spotify needs to be running and it's using mobile data.

Tony

[RobMichelle]

I’m confused to what advice your after. Your post asked about turning off apps, which has been described, now you say it doesn’t fix the problem, you wanted to turn apps off specially Spotify now you won’t Spotify running?

[TonyC]

I’m confused to what advice your after. Your post asked about turning off apps, which has been described, now you say it doesn’t fix the problem, you wanted to turn apps off specially Spotify now you won’t Spotify running?

No, I want to stop some/many apps from accessing mobile data, not stop them from running.

Tony

[PhilipA]

I have a solution for easy isolation of apps from mobile data.
get an Iphone. Each app on an iphone has the option of mobile data.
You just go the to the apps in settings and move the mobile data button to the left.
Sorry but I couldn't resist. I tried but the devil got me.
Regards PhilipA

[DiscoDB]

No, I want to stop some/many apps from accessing mobile data, not stop them from running.

Tony

Other than blocking background data Android doesn’t allow you to block individual apps if they are running in the foreground. (Without turning all data off across all apps).

So you will need to run another app to act as a firewall to block data usage on an app by app basis - like NetGuard.

Being Android you will need to do your own research if you want to use another app to control your device.

[Tins]

I have a solution for easy isolation of apps from mobile data.
get an Iphone. Each app on an iphone has the option of mobile data.
You just go the to the apps in settings and move the mobile data button to the left.
Sorry but I couldn't resist. I tried but the devil got me.
Regards PhilipA

I’m glad you did. I have been itching….

[TonyC]

Other than blocking background data Android doesn’t allow you to block individual apps if they are running in the foreground. (Without turning all data off across all apps).

So you will need to run another app to act as a firewall to block data usage on an app by app basis - like NetGuard.

Being Android you will need to do your own research if you want to use another app to control your device.

Well that answers that.
Had a look for info on NetGuard, most of it went straight over my head ☹️
I'll be more diligent on stuff running jn the background, and see how I go.

Thanks for the very useful reply.

Tony

[101RRS]

I’m confused to what advice your after.

So am I.

[p38arover]

I think I understand. On the iPhone, one can allow/prevent individual apps from using mobile data. I have a number of apps set up like that.

[Tins]

I think I understand. On the iPhone, one can allow/prevent individual apps from using mobile data. I have a number of apps set up like that.

Surprising to see how many are set to on by default.. All. iPhone tells you how much they use. Never worries me. I have a PAYG plan that rolls data over. I currently have around 150GB saved up, so I guess they aren't using much.

[TonyC]

Hi All,

Maybe why might explain it better.

I have a small data quota o my mobile plan, that's fine I don't need much mobile data.

My phone is connected to a wifi network 90% of the time.

But there are more and more apps using data that I don't think need to.

As an example,

Instagram, I look at it a couple of times a week,at home on a good wifi network, if I have mobile data on or off it works the same, but if mobile data is on it regularly top's my mobile date use.

Spotify, I use at home on the wifi, or in the car using saved play lists, if mobile data is off it works OK sometimes it just stops, if mobile data is on, it will be up need the top of the data use list.

Torque Light, is an OBD II reader all it does is Bluetooth to the dongle and show numbers, yet it uses mobile data.

Facebook, I don't use Facebook, to the best of my knowledge I've never opened the app on my phone,yet it uses mobile data.

Samsung Cloud, What's app, Gmail, YouTube, Google Meet, One Drive, Google Drive, Google TV, all are using mobile data and I don't use any of them.

The iPhone users clearly use the ability to block mobile data from same apps, but the Android solution seems to be purchase more data.

Giving Instagram the flick and going back to CDs in the car is looking attractive.

I feel this should have been in the grumpy old buggers thread 😁.

Thanks to all.

Tony

[BradC]

I have an iPhone. Aside from the obvious of restricting apps from phoning home constantly, the other thing I find advantageous is for apps that display obnoxious advertising.
If they have no access to data, they can't download the adds to display them.

[Tins]

The iPhone users clearly use the ability to block mobile data from same apps, but the Android solution seems to be purchase more data.

Trouble with helping out Android users is that there are so many flavours of it, and then the phone makers all add their own skins over the top. Then people insist on customizing it ( admittedly that last is often why people have Android in the first place). iOS is iOS. It only has some changes based on market. Don't make it better, but it do make it easier.





I feel this should have been in the grumpy old buggers thread 😁.



Pretty much any topic that has "sides" fits that description.

[DiscoDB]

Without going off topic and turning this into an Apple vs Android debate (my household uses both), I would give NetGuard by Marcel Bokhorst a go.

It is open source software, the developer looks legit, and can’t be any riskier than using Android in the first place [emoji48]

With 5 million downloads and a 4.6 star rating it looks to fill the gap with Androids data usage set up. Probably better than the iOS solution.

And best of all it is free.

[discorevy]

you can try just going to settings>connections>Data usage>Data saver- on>, on that screen you can get the list of which ( if any ) apps you allow to still use data when the data saver is on. This will also put to sleep any apps you don't use for a while and notify you

This is assuming you have a Samsung, but most Android should have similar


You can also go into data usage>mobile data usage to see, on a monthly basis, how much mobile data each app has used

You can always manually uninstall or disable the apps you don't use as well

[Hoges]

Check out What is Background Data Usage and Why Does It Matter? (https://ipacific.com.au/what-is-background-data-usage-and-why-does-it-matter/)

On the Samsung, go to Settings then Apps.
Tap the Instagram app and when it opens, scroll to Mobile data. Tap this and scroll down to the last two entries
"Allow background data usage" and " allow data usage while data saver is on" . Turn both of them to OFF.

Repeat for other Apps which are constantly updating in the background....