Set Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi if you want apps to fetch new content before you open them without allowing that refresh over cellular. Choose Off if you do not need it. This setting is not a block on all mobile data, and switching it off is different from switching off an app’s notifications.
The useful choice depends on what you want to limit: background updates, the whole app’s cellular connection, or battery use. This guide follows current Apple documentation, checked November 11, 2026. It does not claim a measured battery saving or a fixed amount of data saved.
Choose Off, Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi & Cellular Data
Apple’s Background App Refresh instructions explain that suspended apps can check for updates and new content. An app in the app switcher is not necessarily running continuously.
- Open Settings, then General.
- Tap Background App Refresh, then tap the same label at the top.
- Choose Off, Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi & Cellular Data.
- Return to the app list and review which apps you want to allow.
Wi-Fi is a reasonable starting point for a small monthly mobile allowance. If waiting for fresh content after opening an app does not bother you, try Off. Keep cellular refresh available only when the convenience matters to you, then check actual usage rather than assuming every enabled app consumes heavily.
To stop an app using mobile data, use Cellular settings
Background App Refresh does not control what you download while actively using an app. A video you start playing is a separate reason for the cellular counter to rise.
Apple’s cellular data settings guide provides the stronger control: open Settings > Cellular and turn off cellular access for that app. It will use Wi-Fi for that service instead. Consider whether you need the app away from Wi-Fi before doing this.
The same screen shows usage by app and system services. Record the starting figures and the date before changing settings. Compare a similar period of ordinary use afterward, with the same SIM selected. Ask your carrier for the most accurate usage total for your billing period; a phone counter is not your bill.
Will notifications still arrive?
Turning off refresh is not the same as turning off alerts. Apple’s notification documentation explains that the system can deliver user-facing notifications even when an app is not running. That does not guarantee every app’s alerts or content will arrive instantly.
For an important messaging or work app, check its notification settings separately under Settings > Notifications. Also check Focus if alerts are silent. After changing refresh, ask someone to send an ordinary test message and check both the alert and the content when you open the app. Do not rely on an untested setting change for urgent communication.
When refresh is unavailable or content waits
- Check Low Power Mode. Apple lists Background App Refresh among the features it turns off. The yellow battery icon identifies this mode.
- Check Low Data Mode for the connection you are using. It also turns off Background App Refresh and restricts other network activity. Cellular and Wi-Fi have separate settings.
- Open the affected app again if you quit it from the app switcher. Apple warns that a quit app might not check for new content before you reopen it.
Keep a saving mode enabled if its restrictions are useful to you. Turning it off just to make refresh available can undo the wider limits you wanted. Our Low Data Mode guide covers those trade-offs; Adaptive Power is a different battery setting.
If a single app still fails to update after you open it on a working connection, investigate that app’s own settings and service status. Changing Background App Refresh repeatedly will not establish why its service is unavailable.
