Google play services uses data despite background data being off

[Carsten Holz]

Today google play services on my Samsung Note 7 so far used 14MB data even though all background data (for all apps) is off. The only app that I have used so far today is Whatsapp, with two messages going out and two coming in (no video/audio). Data usage shows google play services with the 14MB, and one dozen other apps using on the order of 30KB each (KB!, not MB).

What is google play services doing? How can it eat data when all background data are off and no google app is running? (Only Whatsapp has been running.)

-- How do I stop google play services from eating data? How do I disable it?

My phone is not rooted and I would prefer not to root it.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Google Play Services is integral to many many activities on the phone. Read up on it here: Google Play Services | Android Central. The bottom line is that this is normal behavior, and disabling Google Play Services would cripple your phone. The data it's using is presumably not considered background data.