Reduce and manage mobile data usage

Data usage is how much data your phone uploads or downloads using mobile data. To make sure that you're not using too much data on your data plan, you can check and change your data usage.

Important: Some of these steps work only on Android 8.0 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.

Check your mobile data usage

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Network and Internet  Internet.
3. Next to your operator, tap Settings .
4. At the top you'll see how much total data you use.
5. To see graphs and details, tap App data usage.
   • To pick a time period, tap the down arrow .
   • To see how much data each app uses, look below the graph.

Set mobile data usage warning or limit

Set warning to get alerts about your data use

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Network and Internet  Internet.
3. Next to your operator, tap Settings .
4. Tap Data warning and limit. If needed, first turn on Set data warning.
5. Tap Data warning.
6. Enter a number. To switch between megabytes (MB) and gigabytes (GB), tap the Down arrow .
7. Tap Set.

When your usage reaches the level that you picked, you'll get a notification.

Set limit and automatically turn off mobile data

Important: Some features won't work when mobile data is turned off.

To set a data usage limit:

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Network and Internet  Internet.
3. Next to your operator, tap Settings .
4. Tap Data warning and limit.
5. If it's not already on, turn on Set data limit. Read the on-screen message and tap OK.
6. Tap Data limit.
7. Enter a number. To switch between megabytes (MB) and gigabytes (GB), tap the Down arrow .
8. Tap Set.

When you reach your limit and your data automatically turns off:

• You'll get a notification.
• To turn mobile data back on, follow the steps above and turn off Set data limit.

Change your settings to save data

Turn mobile data on or off

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Network and Internet  Internet.
3. Next to your operator, tap Settings .
4. Turn Mobile data on or off.

Tip: You can conserve data by turning off mobile data access. If you do this, you’ll only be able to use data when you connect to a Wi-Fi network.

Turn auto-sync on or off

To use less data, turn off auto-sync. If you do this, you’ll need to sync your apps manually. Learn how to turn off auto-sync and sync manually.

Allow or restrict background data usage by app

You can control how apps use data on your phone. Learn how to change app permissions.

Turn data roaming on or off

Important: Data roaming may be the only way to connect to the Internet in some places. Some operators charge extra for data roaming.

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Network and Internet  Internet.
3. Next to your operator, tap Settings .
4. Turn Roaming on or off.

Troubleshoot mobile data usage settings

Important: Your phone measures the data usage shown in your phone’s Settings app. Some operators measure usage differently. We recommend checking with your operator for its measurements and your plan limits.

If you see only Wi-Fi settings

1. Check that you have a SIM card inserted in your device.
2. Check that you have mobile data.

If your phone has more than one SIM

Check that you've assigned mobile data usage to one SIM. Learn how to assign activities to SIMs.

Related resources

• Use less mobile data with Data saver mode
• Change mobile network settings
• Connect to Wi-Fi networks
• About data throttle limits