How to stop FLOW Jamaica or Digicel smartphone using your Mobile Data and Credit

Jamaican smartphone users, this is a First Aid Package kit for you.

If you've downloaded far too many Apps, like Facebook, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, you'll notice that after awhile your Data plan keeps running off very quickly.

In fact, a 3 Day 75MB Data Plan from FLOW Jamaica as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “FLOW Jamaica’s 30-Day Prepaid Mobile Internet gives you 99 cents Plan” will not last three (3) days, often running out before the time period has expired.

Worse, many Jamaicans complain of their Credit disappearing from their phone, a problem that plagues both Digicel and FLOW Jamaica smartphone users.

The problem is so acute that Digicel has now made Facebook and Facebook Messenger free to download and update, effectively unlimited Data for Social Media  as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Free Digicel Facebook Flex and Free Basic is unlimited Data for Smartphone users”.

Digicel has also stopped charging for overage when the Data plans are exceeded. This move is being done mainly for Digicel LTE users, as the faster access means Data plans are finishing faster as argued in my blog article entitled “US$50 million 60Mbps Digicel LTE Network as Caricel and FLOW prep for August 2016 Launch”.

Digicel has even made Government of Jamaica Websites free, based on negotiations from the Minister of Science, Technology and Energy to access as I’d reported in my blog article entitled “How Unlimited access to Government of Jamaica Websites heralds Electronic Transactions and Mobile Money”.

So what’s causing this phenomenon of Telecom Provider’s stealing Credit?

Apps and Data Plans – Notification and Updates use up Data while you sleep

But truth be told, it's really a lack of education among the customers as it relates to the smartphones and their functionalities.

Apps on their smartphones such as Facebook, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp need to update themselves to stay current with their programing as well as posted content. So they update themselves, often without permission from the user.

They use up the Data Balance and when that’s finished, they then go for the Core Balance, accessing the Internet at a rate of JA$45 per megabyte as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “FLOW Jamaica’s 30-Day Prepaid Mobile Internet gives you 99 cents Plan”.

This phenomenon is very similar to the same way Blackberry users Apps used to eat away Data plans back when Blackberry was the phone to have. So faster smartphone and Internet speeds, same problem!

Apps like Facebook and Facebook Messenger use up some 500GB and taxing the processor, which is why I often recommend that people remove these Apps as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to stop Facebook and Messenger from draining your battery”. 

So how do you stop Facebook, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp from finishing your Data Plan and your Mobile Credit?

How to stop Apps from finishing your Data Plan - It's all in the Update Settings

Basically you have to disable the Apps from being able to update themselves without your permission.

To do this you'll need to turn off your Cellular Data Service and connect to the Google Play Store via a Wi-Fi Connection. For Google Android smartphones, the instructions are as follows:

1.      Open Google Play

2.      Tap the hamburger icon, which looks like three horizontal lines on the top-left 

3.      Tap Settings

4.      Tap Auto-update Apps

5.      Select Do not auto-update Apps to disable the Apps

6.      Tap Auto-update Apps over Wi-Fi only in the same pop-up, if you want them to update only over Wi-Fi

You can also choose which Apps you wish to update automatically, especially if they have notifications and updates that are important to you. The steps are as follows:

1.      Go to the app page in the Google Play app

2.      Tap the three vertical dots in the top right

3.      Check Auto-update

For Apple Phones, the instructions are as follows:

1.      Go to Settings

2.      Tap on iTunes & App Store

3.      Turn off the green switch next to Updates to disable all automatic app updates 

4.      Turn off Use Mobile Data and leave Updates on to enable Wi-Fi network only updates

For Windows Phone 8.1, disabling automatic updates and having it only occur only over Wi-Fi can be done as follows:

1.      Open Store

2.      Tap the three horizontal dots icon on the bottom-right

3.      Tap Settings

4.      Tap the switch next to Update Apps automatically to turn it off

5.      Turn on Only get updates over Wi-Fi to update only over Wi-Fi

Finally for Windows 8.1 Laptop users who use a Huawei Dongle from FLOW Jamaica as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “FLOW Jamaica MiFi helps you use Prepaid Mobile Internet Plan wisely”, you can change the setting from within Windows 8.1. The setting to stop automatic updated in Windows 8.1 and do updates only over Wi-Fi is as follows:

1.      Open Store

2.      Swipe from the right edge of the screen or press the Windows Key + C to reveal the Charms Bar

3.      Tap Settings

4.      Tap App Updates

5.      Tap the button below Automatically update my Apps to change it from Yes to No

That's it, Jamaican smartphone users!

You can save you Data Plan and make it last longer by disabling automatic app updates and restrict you app to updating over Wi-Fi.

You'll just have to make sure you have the WifiMapper App to locate Free Wi-Fi hotspots as described in my MICO Wars blog article entitled “How WiFiMapper can locate Free and Password-protected Wi-Fi”.

Sharing is caring so share this with your friends to save them money on their Data Plans!