Why Disable Mobile Data?
There are many reasons you may want to disable mobile data on your smartphone.
Out of control apps: Sometimes, you may find your phone is using a lot of data and you’re not sure why. This is usually the cause of poorly-designed or malicious apps that regularly consume data even when you’re not using your phone. Disabling mobile data will put this to an abrupt stop. Traveling off-the-grid: If you’re traveling somewhere where mobile data isn’t accessible anyway, there’s no sense leaving your mobile data turned on and having your phone regularly “pinging” cellular towers that aren’t there. Prevent data roaming: If you’re traveling somewhere (like another country) where you’d incur data roaming charges, turning off mobile data will ensure you aren’t hit with unexpected charges. Reduce overall data use: In general, turning off mobile data when you aren’t using it will reduce your overall data use. This can help you get to the end of the month without hitting your cellular plan’s data limit. Save battery life: Turning mobile data off can dramatically extend battery life. This is especially useful when you’re traveling and can let you use your phone for phone calls and other non-data uses for a longer period of time.
How to Turn on Mobile Data on Your Android
If you need to limit the amount of data you’re using with your Android phone or tablet, there are several ways to do so. The easiest is just to manually turn your mobile data off when you’re not using it, and back on only when you need it.
How to Turn on Mobile Data on iOS
Enabling or disabling mobile data on an iPhone is very similar to Android. There is an easy setting in iOS settings where you can quickly turn mobile data on or off.
Use Data Warnings to Control Data Usage
If you’re using an Android, another option to control how much data your phone consumes is by using data limit settings. To access these settings, open Settings, tap Data usage, and tap Cellular data usage. This screen shows how much data you’ve used so far during this billing cycle. Tap the gear icon at the upper right to view data controls. On this screen, you can enable Set data warning to get a notification when you’re approaching your monthly data limit. Or you can enable Set data limit to automatically turn off cellular data when you reach your monthly data limit. You can adjust the actual data limit to match your data plan by tapping Data warning and adjusting the limit.
Controlling Your Data Usage
As you can see, it’s very easy to turn mobile data on or off on either an Android or an iPhone. Using this feature can help you take control of your data usage and avoid any unexpected charges at the end of the month.
