The present invention discloses a method for receiving data, a method for sending data, a mobile terminal, and a server, and belongs to the field of mobile terminals. The method includes: when an application program on a mobile terminal is switched to a background, sending, by the mobile terminal, a first message to a push server, so that the push server sends a second message to an application server, where the second message is used to instruct the application server to send, when there is data that needs to be sent to the mobile terminal, the data to the push server, and the application server serves the application program; and receiving, by the mobile terminal, the data sent by the push server. Through the present invention, the mobile terminal does not need not maintain a heartbeat connection to the application server, thereby not only reducing signaling overhead of the mobile terminal, but also reducing energy consumption of the mobile terminal and interaction of network signaling to a great extent.