Google Play Store claims background data is disabled when I'm not on cellular When I try to run the Google Play store app on my Android 6.0 device, I get an error message telling me:

Background data disabled

Google Play Store needs background data to be enabled.


When I click on "learn more" I am taken to this page: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1663315?hl=en

That page claims that, under Android 5.0 or higher I need to open the Settings app and select  "Wireless &amp; networks" or "Connections" and touch "Data Usage", or on some devices "Battery &amp; Data Manager" and then "Delivery".   I have none of these, the closest I have are "WiFi" and "Battery", neither of which have "Data Usage" or "Delivery" under them.

I do however have "Data Usage" as a top-level menu item in Settings but it deals exclusively with Cellular Data limiting.  And in that I do have Google Play Store restricted to "Disable background data on cellular networks".  I am not going to change this as this was one app I identified which was using excessive mobile data usage.

However, I am not on a cellular network when I am trying to open the Google Play store, I am on WiFi, so I'm not sure why it is complaining.  Is there some other location that background data has to be enabled for WiFi?  I find that when connected to WiFi my phone is automatically updating apps in the background every day or two which would seem to suggest it does have background data when on WiFi, so why can't I open the Play Store under the same conditions?
I've just experienced this problem, and worked around it by completely disabling mobile data in the SIM card's "Data Usage" configuration page. Once wifi was the only possibility to connect, Play Store stopped complaining about not being allowed to use background data.