How to stop Apps from running in background using data?

[suzyqcisco]

How to stop Apps from running in background using data

Please help an older lady that has upgraded to a smart phone for the first time a few days ago. I have a AT&t plan that has came with only 2 g of shared data. At this time we are mostly only using the phone for calls and text. My question is about all the apps that appear to be running and eating data even tho the apps are not being selected. When checking DATA USAGE all of the apps show some amout of data. Each app dose not show much data amount, but it adds up especially with 2 phones. Question: How do we keep apps from running in the background? I know know if we will ever use most of them, but I hate to completey because we might.

We do not have wi-fi at home so letting wi-fi eat them is not an option. I would also like any other data saving tips that I can get.

Thanks
Sue Smith

 

[SpookDroid]

Re: How to stop Apps from running in background using data

Hi Sue,

If you go to Settings, Data Usage, there SHOULD be a report of how much data each app is consuming. Furthermore, if you tap the three buttons on top you should see a general switch to turn off background data entirely (all apps) or if you tap on each app, you should see a switch to RESTRICT BACKGROUND DATA individually. Remember that some apps use background data for notifications (e-mail, Facebook, etc.) so if yo don't mind losing those, go ahead and restrict background data.

A few tips to save data is, obviously, to turn off the SYNC option of your phone, but this means you wouldn't be getting notifications from some apps or would have to refresh manually the data on others. You may also use data compression browsers (Chrome, I believe gives you this option, as does Opera) to save on data. Opera, if I recall correctly, also offers an option to compress data phone-wide, not just for the browser.

 

[suzyqcisco]

Re: How to stop Apps from running in background using data

Thanks I have been doing that some. This phone came with so many apps that I don't even know what they are. I am sure I don't need half of them.