Google Play Services is essential for Android devices and applications. It keeps all of the apps on your device updated, helps synchronise apps with Google, and generally enhances app performance.
Despite the many benefits of Google Play Services, some users wonder why it uses so much data on their phone. Here’s what you need to know about Google Play Services and why it’s important to keep it on your phone.
Can I stop Google Play Services data usage?
You can stop Google Play Services from using data, but in the majority of cases, you’re not going to want to do this.
When your phone says that Google Play services is using all of this data, it’s usually for a reason. Google Play Services works with the apps o your device to keep them updated and working properly.
So although it may look like Google play services is using this data, it’s usually using it because of the other apps on your phone. If you have a lot of apps that need updating, then Google Play services is going to use more data.
However, if you find that Google Play Services is using an abnormally large amount of data, this may be a technical issue.
To fix this, the first thing you can do is clearing Google play services data. You can do this by going to Settings, then Apps and then selecting the Google Play services option.
Then, select Storage and clear your cache. Then, select Manage Storage and clear your storage too. In most scenarios, this will fix the issue if there’s a technical error.
You may need to perform a factory reset if this doesn’t resolve the issue, but make sure to make a backup of your phone first.
What are Google Play services?
Google Play Service is a tool that is used for connecting Google applications with Android apps on your device.
It will manage all app’s on the Google Play store and will link to Google’s API. For example if you have an app that uses maps, then it may link the app to Google Maps to function properly – this is actually the case for any app that needs location services, like Uber or TomTom.
Google Play Services and the Google Play Store are related, but not actually the same thing.
Whilst the Google Play store is where you download your apps from, Google Play Services allows all of these apps to communicate with each other, which must be properly configured to function.
This is why it’s important to keep the Google Play Services and Play Store downloaded on your Android phone, as it’s necessary if you use Google’s services.
What happens when I uninstall Google Play services?
Top put it simply, if you delete Google Play Services, you Android phone won’t function properly.
You’ll still be able to do the majority of basic things you need to do using your phone like text, call or take pictures.
However, many of the apps that you’ve downloaded to your mobile may rely on Google Play Services to function, as they may need connection to your Google Sign In & more.
This means that if you disable Google play services, this will stop working properly.
If you find Google Play services data usage too high, it’s a better idea to try and find the culprit app causing this high data usage.
Conclusion
All Android phones have Google Play Services installed on them as default. This application is hidden within the application menu, as the program runs in the background and manages the rest of the application operations.
However, Google Play Services is essential for linking all of your apps to your Google accounts. Many Android users are asking why it uses so much data – typically, this is normal as it works to update all of the apps on your device.
If it’s extremely high, there are a couple of things you can do like clearing the data and performing a factory reset to stop this.
