Android devices are well known to consume much internet data compared to other devices, the problem majorly is when your device consumes data and you cant really identify which application is consuming much data, because there are a lot of background applications that access your internet.
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Unauthorized access to your internet data plan by background apps can be frustrating and it has multiple effects on your device, first it slows down your device as it gets online, secondly it drains your battery juice and thirdly which is the major concern here is it sucks your internet data.
Some android users when on some limited data plans will only want some specific apps to work while others still offline but this is almost impossible as even though you don’t launch some apps it still finds its way online and its so annoying, like some just want to manage their limited data on Whatsapp and BBM only.
To achieve all this
- You should disable/restrict background data: this is one major settings which android developers have come up with to help users manage their data. Goto Settings>Data usage click the option key and tick resists background data also there is an option below that where you can turn off background data for individual applications (this is for android 4 and above).
- Secondly there are a lot of good third party utility apps that works magic in this aspect to control the access various apps have to the Internet.
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LostNet Firewall: This is a great app that helps you manage apps and how they get online. It has options to block an app totally or to allow it have access to the internet only when on WIFI, you can also set geolocation accessibility and doesn’t require root access.
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Android Firewall: This is a folk of the popular application Droidwall that uses iptables to limit data usage and add security to Android but was discontinued, this works great too but root access is required.
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AFWall+ (Android Firewall +): AFWall is another app in that category which tried to replace the discontinued Droidwall . Although no much success story but still does what it suppose to do but not this also requires root access.
With the above I believe android users will find it unseful in controlling the usage of their internet data plans. If you know any good app that does same please comment below so I can add it to the list for others to benefit.
