Why is Android OS taking so much mobile data in the background?

[AC Question]

I bought my new phone (Samsung Galaxy S7 edge) on August 31 2016 and since then the Android OS has used 428mb in mobile data (which is insane in my opinion, for only 20 days of activity). When looking at the app management in my phone it says that all that data has been used in the background. This is weird because when I setup my phone, I made sure that all updates, backgrounds backup, refresh etc can only happen if I am on WIFI. Same goes for my apps, aside from 4 or 5 apps that are allowed to make background refresh that uses mobile data only if they are on. I have had a look around and I am unable to connect the Android OS to any programs that uses that much mobile data in the background without authorization, since it should only be authorize to do so when I am on WIFI. Can you therefore please help me in order to fix or find out what is eating so much of my data in Android OS. Thank you for helping me out.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Do you do a lot of MMS messaging (i.e., photo texting)? That might account for some of it. Remember that MMS isn't counted toward your mobile data limit. The Data Usage menu doesn't account for that, though, and will still report that amount of data used for MMS. Check with your carrier--do they say that you've used that much data as well?

 

[Soaring_Eagle]

Welcome to Android Central! Do you do a lot of MMS messaging (i.e., photo texting)? That might account for some of it. Remember that MMS isn't counted toward your mobile data limit. The Data Usage menu doesn't account for that, though, and will still report that amount of data used for MMS. Check with your carrier--do they say that you've used that much data as well?

I'm trying to free up space on my Android ZTE Blade Spark. I keep removing the wrong apps or disabling the wrong ones. Everytime I try to install anything it tells me I've gotta delete some stuff & I've only got 2 games that I even play. The rest or should I say the majority of the apps were already installed when I purchased the phone so I'm not sure which ones are safe to enable, force stop, or or which ones I should allow to use background data. My main use of the internet is via WiFi. I guess in a nutshell (How do I safely free up space on my phone.?)

 

[belodion]

Re: what apps are safe to disable background data

I'm trying to free up space on my Android ZTE Blade Spark. I keep removing the wrong apps or disabling the wrong ones. Everytime I try to install anything it tells me I've gotta delete some stuff & I've only got 2 games that I even play. The rest or should I say the majority of the apps were already installed when I purchased the phone so I'm not sure which ones are safe to enable, force stop, or or which ones I should allow to use background data. My main use of the internet is via WiFi. I guess in a nutshell (How do I safely free up space on my phone.?)

Welcome.

See this: https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=315804

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm trying to free up space on my Android ZTE Blade Spark. I keep removing the wrong apps or disabling the wrong ones. Everytime I try to install anything it tells me I've gotta delete some stuff & I've only got 2 games that I even play. The rest or should I say the majority of the apps were already installed when I purchased the phone so I'm not sure which ones are safe to enable, force stop, or or which ones I should allow to use background data. My main use of the internet is via WiFi. I guess in a nutshell (How do I safely free up space on my phone.?)

Welcome to Android Central! You're asking about Internal Storage. That's different from the mobile or wi-fi data that's used by an app, so background data usage doesn't enter into this.

According to the specs, your 16 GB phone only has about 7 GB free to the user. That can get filled pretty quickly. How much free space does it say you have in Settings>Storage​?