3G and Wi-Fi are one of the major reasons for battery drain issues on smartphones. For this reason, most of us disable the data on our droids for extended periods of time. Many devices come with a built-in stamina mode (power saver) that disables the 3G and Wi-Fi as soon as the screen times out and reconnects again once an interaction is triggered.

Now the thing is, deactivating the 3G completely might increase the battery life. But that makes your smartphone a completely dumb device. All your notifications and updates will be delayed. Only when you wake up your device will these notifications be delivered. Not so wise after all?

The intelligent thing to do would be to enable the data connection automatically for some time every few minutes so that the apps can connect and synchronize notifications and updates even while the device is sleeping. So even if your phone is locked for a duration of 2 to 3 hours, you will get the notifications constantly. So let’s check out two Android apps that can automate the task for you.

AutoData

AutoData is a very simple app and once installed, it will automatically switch off your data 10 minutes after the screen turns off. If the device continues to stay in sleep mode, the app will switch on the mobile data every 15 minutes for a minute so that the apps installed on your device can interact with their servers and fetch new notifications. Like your WhatsApp messages, new emails, etc.

Once you wake up your device, the app will automatically enable the data so that you can work on your device without any issues. The time values of the initial wait before the data turns off and the cycle time between each reconnect can be changed form the app’s Settings.

AutoDataOnOff

AutoDataOnOff is just like the app we discussed above; it gives the same basic functionality as AutoData. However AutoDataOnOff takes it to the next level by allowing the user to set night time mode. After you set the Night time data off in the app, both, the 3G/LTE along with Wi-Fi will be disabled completely.

At the bottom you have the option to allow just Wi-Fi, which can be used if you don’t mind receiving notifications even while you are sleeping and your phone is kept from charging.

Conclusion

Both apps are very basic and you will not find many configuration options. Some of you might ask, why use these when we have many battery saver apps out in the Play Store, like Juice Defender, that can take care of such issues. However in my personal experience, all these apps disable the data completely when the screen is off. The Juice Defender gives similar options as above, but for a price of $4.99, And that too requires a lot of user configuration in a complicated app.

The aforementioned apps make it simple and free and that’s their unique selling point. So try out the apps and tell us if you liked them in the comments below.