1. A method comprising: providing a keep-alive application programming interface on a device configured to connect to an application client; transmitting one or more messages of a first keep-alive message type from the device; determining keep-alive parameters via the keep-alive application programming interface; transmitting, to a network element via the keep-alive application programming interface, data comprising the keep-alive parameters and information identifying one or more types of keep-alive messages such that the network element is instructed to transmit the one or more types of keep-alive messages to an application server on behalf of the device; receiving, by the device, information from the network element that directs the device to stop transmitting the one or more types of keep-alive messages to the network element, wherein the information that directs the device to stop transmitting the one or more types of the keep-alive messages to the network element directs the device to stop transmitting the first keep-alive message type; determining that an outgoing message is one of the one or more types of keep-alive messages that the device is to stop transmitting to the network element; and filtering, by the device, the outgoing message from outgoing traffic of the device.