Question regarding Background Data on the Pixel

fludkilla

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Hello everyone. I have been apart of Android Central for a while but just recently jumped back into the forums because of my purchase of a Pixel XL through VZW (7 days in). Feels good to be back and I love this community so I want to ask a question regarding Background Data.

So every app pretty much can use background data from what I can tell. How necessary is it to keep background data on? Yes, I know the word is self explanatory but it can be vague. In order these are the apps I am concerned with:

1. Twitter - 405 MB
2. Play Store - 344
3. Chrome - 333
4. Play Music - 191
5. Reddit - 131

Figure I stop at the top 5. If anyone has any input definitely let me know.
 

LeoRex

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Re: Question regarding Background Data

well.. background data isn't necessary... it's more for your convenience. Twitter, for instance, if you turned off background data, you wouldn't get any notifications to anything you are following and it will have to update itself every time you launch. That's true for most apps... Reddit for example.

Play Store.. background data is where it updates automatically. Chrome... perhaps that is data that it is prefetching int he background, to speed up browsing. Play Music... that might be precaching as well.

None of it is needed... if you don't mind the hit in your active use, waiting for it to refresh its data, then you can turn all that off. But keep in mind that for the most part if you use those apps regularly, you'd be downloading all that data anyhow, just not in the background.
 

Golfdriver97

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Re: Question regarding Background Data

To add to @LeoRex, unless you have a low data cap, I wouldn't really worry about it. The only thing I might suggest is seeing if there is an alternate to Twitter. Twitter, FB, IG, etc, can all be data hogs.
 

fludkilla

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Re: Question regarding Background Data

@LeoRex Awesome answer my friend. @Golfdriver97 I do have somewhat of a low data cap unfortunately. I share 24GB between 3 other family members and one is an Insta*explicit*. It is the absolute worst. But like @LeoRex said that data is going to be downloaded one way or another if it is an app I use regularly (Twitter especially). You guys are awesome.
 

anon(847090)

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Re: Question regarding Background Data

@LeoRex Awesome answer my friend. @Golfdriver97 I do have somewhat of a low data cap unfortunately. I share 24GB between 3 other family members and one is an Insta*explicit*. It is the absolute worst. But like @LeoRex said that data is going to be downloaded one way or another if it is an app I use regularly (Twitter especially). You guys are awesome.

to add to the explanation. any music u play when the play music app is minimized is background data(unless its already cached).

333 for chrome seems a bit off. i only have 18mb background. if you make a download and minimize chrome thats background data.

you need to be aware of all of this
 

fludkilla

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Re: Question regarding Background Data

to add to the explanation. any music u play when the play music app is minimized is background data(unless its already cached).

333 for chrome seems a bit off. i only have 18mb background. if you make a download and minimize chrome thats background data.

you need to be aware of all of this

I think what had happened was that when I got the phone the app store was on the verizon store wifi and when i walked out it used 4g to download the rest. My fault but you are right 333 sounds crazy. As for my music i download it all so I dont use data :)
 

vansmack

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Because I have WiFi at work and WiFi at home (between the two I spend 95% of my time there) I switched to Project Fi. I instructed just about every app I could to perform actions "On WiFi Only" and am using between 1-2 GBs a month.

I haven't seen any disruption to my workflow or timeliness of notifications, but mind you Fi has me constantly connected to WiFi.
 

fludkilla

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Because I have WiFi at work and WiFi at home (between the two I spend 95% of my time there) I switched to Project Fi. I instructed just about every app I could to perform actions "On WiFi Only" and am using between 1-2 GBs a month.

I haven't seen any disruption to my workflow or timeliness of notifications, but mind you Fi has me constantly connected to WiFi.

I don't have wifi at work and it drives me nuts. I do have a work pc so I guess it balances out. Nice to see project fi fits you though. I dream of a dataless world for everyone lol
 

wyelkins

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The secret is good WiFi at home and work. I never use 1GB LATE on Fi but if I did I have good TMobile and Sprint coverage all over Savannah. Works great for me. Less than $30/month.