How to remove traffic restrictions on your phone. How to save mobile traffic on Android. Programs for saving traffic
In your mobile phone settings you can find a section called “Data Transfer” or “Data Usage”. This section calculates the traffic that the user spends on his phone.
But many users do not know what traffic is and what to do with the traffic values that are displayed in the mobile phone settings. If you also have not yet figured out this issue, then we suggest that you read our article.
Traffic is the amount of information that a mobile phone sends and receives from the Internet. Traffic can be measured in packets, bits, or bytes. But in phones, bytes and their derivatives (kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes) are usually used as a unit of measurement. Traffic counting is necessary so that the user can control his Internet expenses.
When traffic is counted, it is usually divided into several types. This can be incoming, outgoing, internal or external traffic. But the phone usually doesn’t have such detailed statistics about traffic usage. Instead, the phone simply shows the total amount of data that has been used over a period of time. In some cases, separate counts may be kept for mobile Internet (traffic transmitted via cellular communications) and Wi-Fi.
If necessary, traffic counting can be organized on any device that is connected to the network or the Internet. For example, if you need to count traffic on a computer with a Windows operating system, then you can use the following programs: TMeter, NetWorx, BWMeter or DU Meter.
How to view traffic on Android
In order to see traffic consumption on an Android mobile phone, you need to open the “ Settings" and find the section there " Data transfer" or " data usage" For example, on pure Android 8.0, to do this you first need to go to the “ Network and Internet", and then open the subsection " Data transfer».
Here you can see how much traffic was used over the last month and take advantage of the functions that allow you to manage your mobile Internet expenses. There is also information about the amount of information that was transferred via Wi-Fi.
If the information that Android provides is not enough for you, then you can install special applications for traffic counting. For example, you can use applications or.
How to view traffic on iPhone
There is a similar section with traffic information on the iPhone. If you have an Apple mobile phone, then you need to open the settings application, go to the " cellular" and scroll the screen to the item " Statistics».
Here you can see the total amount of data from the Internet, as well as data that was received while roaming. In addition, the iPhone displays the exact traffic value for each installed application. This allows you to quickly identify the applications that access the Internet most often and increase your mobile phone costs.
If the information provided by the iPhone is not enough for you, then you can install special applications for counting traffic. For example, you can use applications or.
How to save traffic on your phone
If your Mobile Internet expenses seem too high to you, then you can take a number of measures to reduce the amount of traffic consumed:
- Turn off mobile Internet when you don't need it. Simple but very effective advice. If you are severely limited in mobile traffic, then mobile Internet should be turned off at every opportunity.
- Explore your phone settings. Explore the settings available on your phone. You'll likely find a variety of features and functionality that can help you reduce your data usage and control your mobile Internet costs.
- Use a browser with a saving feature. Many browsers have built-in bandwidth saving tools. For example, you can use the Opera browser. This browser passes all traffic through its own servers, where it is pre-compressed.
- Try to always connect to Wi-Fi. While you are connected to a Wi-Fi wireless network, you transmit traffic through this network, while the mobile Internet is actually turned off.
- Explore application settings. In the settings of many applications there is an item “Only via Wi-Fi”; after enabling it, the application will only use the Wi-Fi network.
The amount of mobile traffic on Android tablets and smartphones can be limited. For what? First of all, it helps you save money money.
We all know that smartphones and tablets are very convenient for mobile internet. However, according to some data, mobile users are not always able to correctly correlate the volume of mobile traffic they consume with the current tariffs of telecom operator companies.
In other words, having bought a smartphone or tablet (by the way, you can buy tablets), the user for the most part first rushes to surf the WWW, download all sorts of applications, send photos, videos, etc., and only then is surprised to get acquainted with somewhat unexpected numbers in the operator's accounts. Moreover, even prudent users do not always realize that some applications they use can consume significant amounts of mobile traffic without specifically notifying their owner about it, which also leads to increased costs for the “maintenance” of their favorite smartphone or tablet.
And if we talk about the family budget, on the balance sheet of which there are several active mobile users at once, moreover, half of them are curious, but inexperienced individuals of primary and secondary school age?
In general, this is something like a short preface with a brief description of the essence of the problem. Now, in fact, about one of the options for eliminating it. As we have already mentioned, on Android tablets and smartphones you can set a limit for the monthly consumed mobile traffic, upon reaching which the device will first display a corresponding warning and then automatically turn off the 3G data function, or if there is a need to effectively avoid unnecessary costs. Of course, these restrictions will not apply to WiFi communications; besides, you can also limit mobile traffic at your discretion, changing the settings as needed.
So, in order to set a limit on mobile traffic(limit the reception/transmission of data via mobile operator networks) in Android smartphones and/or tablets, you must do the following:
Step 1: Find and click the Settings icon on the Android home screen (or application screen). In the window that opens, select the “Mobile network” tab (Wireless & networks), and in it - “Data usage”. At the top of the screen we find a switch labeled “Mobile data”. If your device has the mobile data function active, the switch is in the “On” position. Otherwise, this feature is disabled on your smartphone or tablet.
Step 2: In the “Data usage cycle” tab, we indicate the period between dates within which the system will subsequently apply mobile traffic restrictions. It is better that the selected data usage cycle corresponds to the billing period of your telecom operator (as a rule, the exact dates are indicated in the contract).
Step 4: Now, in the same way, we set the absolute volume of mobile traffic, upon reaching which the device will automatically turn off the function of receiving/transmitting data over mobile networks, if the previously determined period of time has not yet expired. In the box “Limit mob. traffic" check the box, after which a window will appear on the device screen notifying you that this function has been enabled. Click “OK” and see that the transverse red line has become active at the top of the graph. We move it to the desired level. This is all.
One thing to keep in mind (and Android OS will also warn you about this) is that Your operator and your mobile device may account for mobile traffic differently . In this regard, before finally deciding on the limits, it would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with your statistics on the volume of mobile traffic consumption, which is maintained by the telecom operator, and which is reflected in your online account with the company and in the invoices that you receive by mail.
After setting up restrictions on data reception/transmission from your mobile device, you can be sure that at the right time the system will warn you that the traffic limit will soon be exhausted, and will also protect you from unplanned expenses when this does happen. Let us remind you that after disabling the data transfer function over mobile networks, you will only be able to use the Internet via Wi-Fi, but without the risk of receiving an invoice with unexpected numbers from your mobile operator.
Consider a question received from a blog reader: “I have unlimited Internet, but Android blocks the 5 Gb traffic limit. Is it possible to remove the restriction so that Android does not block traffic and how to remove it?
Indeed, it’s a shame when you pay for unlimited Internet, but in fact you are modestly content with what is installed in Android.
Where to look for traffic settings
To get to the appropriate settings, we will take turns opening the nesting dolls, one after another. The largest of them is “Applications” (given for Android 5.0.2):
Rice. 1. Open Applications in Android
Having opened Applications in Android, we find Settings there:
Rice. 2. Android Settings
In the settings we need “Data Usage”:
Rice. 3. Open “Data Usage”
How to remove traffic restrictions on Android
If the Internet is unlimited, then you can forget about restrictions. To remove them, just uncheck the “Mobile restrictions” checkbox as shown below (number 2 in Fig. 4), because if there is no checkmark, there are no restrictions.
Rice. 4. No mobile data limit (none)
In Fig. Figure 4 shows that there are two types of Internet traffic on an Android smartphone:
- via Wi-Fi,
- mobile traffic via SIM card (below it goes under the name Nadezhda).
It is also shown that the amount of consumed Internet traffic is so far 292 kb.
How to turn off traffic on Android
If you remove the green checkmark next to “Mobile data” (1 in Fig. 4), a warning will appear:
“Without a Wi-Fi network, you will not be able to use the Internet, mail and other applications that require data transfer. Mobile data will be disabled."
If we click “OK” in such a window, we will thereby turn off the traffic and Android will be completely free from the Internet, access to which is given to us by the mobile operator (not for free, of course).
How to set up traffic limiting
We are interested in how we can change Internet traffic restrictions in order to fully take advantage of the Internet access services provided by the mobile operator.
Click “Mobile Restriction” (2 in Fig. 4), after which a window will appear:
Rice. 5. Limit data transfer
I duplicate the message in the “Limit data transfer” window (Fig. 5):
“The data connection will be disconnected when the specified limit is reached. Data usage is measured on the device and your service provider may calculate your traffic differently, so set a tighter limit."
Here we can only click on the “OK” button, confirming our desire to limit data transfer so as not to overpay and so that Android monitors the volume of traffic and stops access to the Internet in a timely manner.
Rice. 6. Traffic limit set – 5 GB
In Fig. 6 shows that the Internet traffic limit is 5 Gigabytes. If you click on the number 5.0 GB, which is visible on the Android screen, then in the window that appears (Fig. 7) we can set any other limit by typing numbers on the online keyboard, for example, 15 GB.
Rice. 7. You can set a traffic limit using the online keyboard
Or you can simply “move” the top line, which limits traffic to 15 GB, as shown in Fig. 8. You need to move by hooking the line in the place where the bold dot is located - at the opposite end from the inscription 15 GB. The line moves easily both up and down.
Rice. 8. The traffic limit is set to 15 GB.
We will move the line limiting the traffic limit down, hooking it to the bold point at the top right (circled in a frame in Fig. 8).
Thus, for example, we will set the upper limit at 2.9 GB (Fig. 9). You can also move it by catching the bold dot and the “Warning” line. This line shows at what volume of traffic on Android a warning will be displayed about reaching the specified limit, but restrictions will not be enabled; Android will still have access to the Internet. But when the upper limit is reached (in the version in Fig. 9, this is 2.9 GB), the Internet will turn off.
For those who are too lazy to move the black line up or down, they can simply click on the number next to the “Warning” line to use the on-screen keyboard (Fig. 7) to indicate the amount of traffic at which a warning will be received.
Rice. 9. Finalized values for Warnings and Internet Traffic Limits on Android
Results
That, in general, is all the wisdom of setting warnings and limiting mobile Internet traffic on Android. It must be said that the established warnings and restrictions apply on Android for any type of Internet use, be it accessing the Internet on Android, or accessing a Wi-Fi hotspot, using mobile applications with Internet access, using email, etc. All traffic will be taken into account by this access restriction control system.
Unfortunately, the traffic that Android counts may not match the traffic that the mobile operator itself counts. In my experience, it happened when Android had not yet limited access to the Internet, but the mobile operator had already sharply reduced the Internet speed or turned it off altogether.
To avoid such a discrepancy (whether we like it or not, mobile operators and Android devices will always count traffic differently), on Android it is useful to set traffic limits a little less than what the mobile operator assumes. In particular, in Fig. Figure 9 shows the installation of a limit of 2.9 GB with a given limit of 3.0 GB from the mobile operator. With such restrictions set, there will be no conflicts between Android and the mobile operator, and Android will notify in time and then turn off the Internet, without waiting for the mobile operator itself to do this.
Mobile phones are increasingly using mobile traffic. Read on and we'll show you how to manage your data.
Just a few years ago, it was almost unheard of to be able to transfer several GB of mobile data. Now apps weigh more (it's not uncommon for apps and their updates to be over 100 MB in size), and streaming music and video is becoming more popular and with all this, you can easily use up your data limit in a matter of days.
An hour of watching a video on YouTube and you no longer have several gigabytes of traffic. And if you watch videos in HD format, then the traffic flows like water... Do you use streaming music services such as Google Play Music or Spotify? You can spend about 120 MB per hour. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but imagine using these services every day for an hour, in a week you already get 840 MB. An hour a day for a month and you will already have spent about 3.2 GB. If you use a tariff plan with a 5 GB traffic package included, then in a month you will spend 65% of the limit only on music.
Of course, you can buy traffic with extra money, but who wants to pay? Before you pay for a more expensive plan or additional data package, we offer a few tricks to reduce your data transfer (and control).
How to view the amount of data being transferred
First of all, you need to check how much data is being transferred. If you don’t know how much traffic you use, it will be unclear how you need to change your data consumption structure.
The easiest way to check your data usage is through your cellular provider's web portal. If you never use up your limit, it might be worth upgrading to a cheaper plan. If you never fit into your allotted traffic package, then you should definitely read the article further.
You can also view data consumption statistics on your Android device. Go to Settings -> Data Transfer. You will see a screen something like this:
If you scroll down, you will see the mobile data usage of the apps, as seen in the second screenshot above. It's important to note that these graphs only show data sent over a cellular data connection, not over a Wi-Fi connection. You can always “hang” on YouTube while connected to Wi-Fi, but this will not appear in the statistics. If you want to see statistics on data usage via Wi-Fi, then press the menu button and select “Show Wi-Fi traffic”.
It's worth noting that you will need to enter your billing cycle here in order to accurately calculate your data usage. Since your data will be reset on the first day of the new cycle, it will not matter what you used the month before, so the result will not be distorted.
In addition to the schedules, you can set a traffic limit, at which you will be shown a warning, or set a limit by adjusting the slider on the schedule, at which the transmission of mobile traffic will be disabled. Don't forget to enable the "Mobile traffic limit" option.
Once the limit is reached, mobile traffic will not be transmitted until you turn it on again.
How to control your data usage
There are two types of traffic consumed: when the user is using the application and knows that it is running over the Internet, and data usage in the background. When watching a video or downloading a new album, you consume a data package if you use mobile data rather than Wi-Fi Internet. Obviously, in order to use less data you need to stop streaming content and downloading files.
A less obvious data transfer is “background transfer”, which uses a large amount of traffic. Checking new messages in the VKontakte application client or checking new letters in email and other background processes constantly consume traffic. Let's figure out how to reduce background data consumption.
First, find out which applications are consuming data
First, let's figure out which apps actually use a lot of bandwidth. Go to Settings -> Data Transfer and see the apps using data. Click on one to see more information. Here we see normal data transfer and work in the background:
Now that you know which applications use the most data, you know what to optimize.
Using data saving in Android Nougat
Android 7.0 Nougat has a new feature with the self-explanatory name “Traffic Saving”. It allows you to limit background traffic consumption and provides the ability to maintain a “white list” of applications that are allowed to use data in the background.
To get started, pull down the notification panel and tap the gear icon to go to the settings menu.
In the “Wireless Networks” section, click on “Data Transfer”.
Under the traffic used, you will find the “Traffic Saving” option. This is where the fun begins.
The first thing to do is turn on the switch that is located at the top right. The new icon will appear in the status bar, as well as to the left of the other data icons (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, cellular, etc.).
Remember that once you enable this, background data access will be restricted for all applications. To change this, click on "Unlimited data access."
After this, a list of all installed applications on your phone will appear. Using the slider next to applications, you can add them to the white list, allowing background data transfer.
It is worth keeping in mind that this only applies to mobile traffic and will not affect the Wi-Fi connection in any way.
Limit background data transfer
If you don't have Android Nougat, then you have other options.
Open an app that uses a lot of bandwidth. Look at the settings of this application, it may be worth reducing the number of notifications (for example, VKontakte) or disabling them completely. This will have a great impact not only on the traffic consumed, but also on battery drain.
True, not every application has such settings. There is another way...
Go to Settings -> Data transfer and click on the application. Turn on the "Limit background activity" switch.
Disable all background data transfer
If that's not enough, you can also turn off all background data with a single switch - this will reduce data usage in most cases, but it can also be inconvenient. From the data transfer item, click on the menu and select “Limit background. mode". This will turn off background data for all applications.
Disable background app updates
Google understands how valuable mobile data is, so app updates will only happen automatically when you're on Wi-Fi by default. To check this, open the Google Play Store. Go to the settings and make sure that “Only via Wi-Fi” is selected in the “Auto-update applications” item.
Buy frequently used apps (to remove ads)
Applications are often offered in a free version with advertising and a paid version. The thing is, not only are ads annoying, but they also use up traffic. Therefore, if you want to reduce your traffic consumption, you can buy a paid version of a frequently used application.
Not many mobile network operators provide unlimited access to the Internet, so we, as a user, have to set an Internet traffic limit. Many users may say that this requires downloading special applications, and I agree with them to some extent. But now I’m going to talk about a method for which you don’t even need to download any applications, because Android has such an option.
So let's look at how to set an Internet traffic limit and how to use it correctly.
To do this you need to take a few simple steps:
- Step 1: go to system settings and find the “Data transfer” item;
- Step 2: in the menu that opens, select the desired network (in two SIM versions of smartphones there will be two of them, as in this case);
- Step 3: check the box next to “Set limit” and agree to the notification that appears;
- Step 4: now it remains to set the Internet traffic limit on the chart, the one you need. The orange line is responsible for a warning, and the red line is for turning off the Internet when the set limit is reached.
This method allows you to set an Internet traffic limit for an entire month. If you need a daily limit, then you will need to change the start date of the statistics period every day, and set the limit value itself to what you need for one day. Yes, don’t forget to set your Internet traffic limit according to the tariffs of your operator.
Example 1. Your Internet provider provides you with 5 GB of Internet traffic for a month. Everything is simple here, go to the settings, check the “Set limit” checkbox and set the desired Internet traffic limit on the graph.
Example 2. Let's say your mobile operator gives you 50 MB per day. We check the box next to “Set limit”, set the desired limit for the day (first set a warning, and then the limit value), and then set the date of the statistics period for the day you need. Don’t forget to change the start date of the statistics period every day.
But that's not all the possibilities. In this menu, you will have access to detailed statistics on Internet traffic consumption; to do this, you need to scroll down. Using these statistics, you can find out which application uses the most traffic. Oh yes, I almost forgot, there is also such an item in the limit settings - “Show when blocked”. This item is activated automatically when the limit is enabled. With this option, an air circle appears on the lock screen displaying information about traffic consumption. For myself, I always leave this option enabled.
This is the functionality Android has. I hope the article was useful for you. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments.
Stay tuned, there is still a lot of interesting things ahead.