Data Saver is a feature in Android designed to reduce cellular data usage. When enabled, it prevents most background apps from sending or receiving data over a mobile connection, and it may instruct active foreground apps to use lower-resolution images or compressed video streams. While highly beneficial for users on limited data plans, Data Saver can wreak havoc on enterprise mobility deployments. If critical corporate applications (such as Mobile Device Management clients, VoIP softphones, or secure email synchronizers) are forcefully throttled or blocked from communicating in the background, employees may miss urgent communications, or the device may fall out of compliance with the corporate management server.
This guide explains how to completely disable Data Saver system-wide on an Android device, ensuring that all applications have unrestricted access to necessary network resources.
Disable Data Saver System-Wide
To ensure that Android does not proactively sever background data connections, we must turn off the centralized Data Saver governor.
- Open the main Settings app on your Android smartphone.
- Tap on Network & internet (or “Connections” depending on the manufacturer).
- Tap on Data Saver (this may sometimes be nested under “Data usage”).
- Locate the master toggle switch labeled Use Data Saver.
- Toggle the switch to the Off (grey) position.
Verify the System State
By toggling this switch off, you instruct the Android networking stack to stop enforcing bandwidth limitations and background data restrictions on cellular connections.
To verify the change is successful, look at the status bar at the top of your screen. When Data Saver is active, Android typically displays a distinctive icon (often a circle with a plus sign inside it, or a triangle). This icon should immediately disappear when the feature is turned off. Furthermore, if you navigate to Settings > Apps > See all apps, select a critical corporate application, and tap on Mobile data & Wi-Fi, you will see that background data usage is permitted and is no longer being overridden by a system-wide limitation.