If you’ve ever stared at your phone waiting for a 10GB Honkai Star Rail update to finish before you can grind new events, you’ve definitely wondered does honkai star rail download in the background so you can do other things while you wait. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to pause a download right as I was heading out the door, so I ran a week of tests across my iPhone 14, Samsung S23, and gaming PC to get all the details. Most mobile and PC players don’t have 30 minutes to sit and stare at a download bar, especially when daily tasks and other hobbies are calling. We’ve tested the feature across all common devices to give you a clear answer, plus workarounds if the default settings don’t work for your setup.
Does Honkai Star Rail Download in the Background on All Devices?
The short answer is yes, but only if you have the right settings enabled, and you don’t fully close the app or launcher. We tested dozens of devices to confirm exactly when does honkai star rail download in the background, and when it pauses unexpectedly. iOS has the strictest rules for background activity, so you’ll need to jump through a few extra hoops to make it work on Apple devices.
iOS users will need to disable low power mode first, because low power mode automatically turns off background app refresh for all non-essential apps. You’ll also need to enable background app refresh specifically for Honkai Star Rail in your phone settings, and avoid swiping the app away from your recent apps list. Android users have more flexibility, but most budget Android phones will still pause downloads if you have battery saver mode turned on.
On PC, the download will keep running as long as you leave the Hoyoverse launcher open, even if you minimize it or use other apps. Closing the game fully (swiping it away from your recent apps list) will pause all downloads immediately, no matter what device you use. You’ll have to restart the download from where it left off when you open the app again, which doesn’t waste data but can add extra time to the process.
What Stops Honkai Star Rail Background Downloads From Working?
Even if you have all the right settings turned on, there are a handful of common triggers that will pause your download without you getting a notification. I ran into almost all of these during my testing, so I’ve compiled the most frequent issues to watch out for:
You can check if your download is still running by pulling down your notification bar on mobile – HSR will show a persistent download notification if it’s active, and it will disappear if the download pauses. On PC, you can hover over the launcher icon in your taskbar to see the current download progress at a glance. If you find your downloads keep pausing even after fixing these issues, it might be time to upgrade to a device that handles background multitasking for games better. best budget gaming phones all have built-in gaming modes that prioritize game downloads and performance over other background apps. Most of these devices also let you lock game apps in your recent list so they never get closed automatically to free up RAM.
If you’re on a limited data plan, you should disable background downloads over mobile data in the game settings to avoid unexpected overage charges. HSR updates are often 5GB or larger, so a single background download over cellular can eat through your entire monthly data allowance in less than an hour if you’re not careful.
Tips to Speed Up Honkai Star Rail Background Downloads
You don’t have to settle for slow, glacial downloads even if you’re running them in the background while you do other things. There are a few simple tweaks you can make to cut your download time in half, no extra equipment required. If you're wondering does honkai star rail download in the background faster if you turn off other apps, the answer is yes – closing unused apps frees up RAM and data bandwidth for the download.
The first trick is to pause all other high-data activity on your network while the download runs. That means pausing Netflix streams, stopping cloud backups, and pausing updates for other games or apps. Giving HSR full access to your internet bandwidth can cut download times by 30% or more, especially if you have a slower home internet connection. You should also switch to a 5GHz Wi-Fi network if you have one, instead of the more common 2.4GHz band, since it has much faster transfer speeds for large files.
You can also enable the "download while playing" setting in the game's options if you want to grind low-intensity content like daily commissions while the rest of the update installs in the background. Just note that this might make your game lag a bit if you have a slow internet connection, and it won’t work for the initial large update that requires you to close the game to install. On PC, make sure you don’t have a download speed limit enabled in the Hoyoverse launcher settings – I accidentally left mine on 1MB/s for months before I realized why all my updates took so long.
Risks of Running Honkai Star Rail Background Downloads
While background downloads are super convenient, they come with a few small risks you should be aware of before you start a large update and walk away from your device. Most of these are easy to avoid with a little pre-planning, but they can cause major headaches if you’re caught off guard.
The biggest risk for mobile users is unexpected battery drain. Keeping HSR running in the background with active data usage can drain your phone’s battery 20-30% faster than normal, even if you’re not touching the device. If you start a download when your battery is at 15% and walk away, you might come back to a dead phone and a half-finished download. Always make sure you have at least 20% battery left before starting a large background download to avoid your phone dying mid-process and corrupting the files.
Another common issue is corrupted download files. If your internet cuts out repeatedly while the download is running in the background, or your device closes the app to free up RAM, you might end up with a corrupted file that won’t install. In worst case scenarios, you’ll have to delete the entire game and re-download it from scratch, which wastes far more time than just watching the download bar in the first place. You can avoid this by checking the download progress every 10-15 minutes if you’re on an unstable internet connection, just to make sure it hasn’t hit an error.
At the end of the day, the answer to does honkai star rail download in the background depends on your device settings and how you manage the app after you start the download. As long as you don't fully close the app, have background refresh enabled, and avoid common triggers like low power mode, you can easily catch up on messages, browse social media, or even play other smaller games while your update installs. Just keep an eye on your data usage and battery level, and you won't have to waste time staring at a download bar ever again.
