A communication method and a device are provided. The method includes: generating, by a first terminal device, first data, where the first data includes second data, the second data includes third data and an identifier of the first terminal device, the second data is data that needs to be reported by the first terminal device to a network device, and the identifier of the first terminal device is used to determine the first terminal device; and sending, by the first terminal device, the first data to a second terminal device when a connection to the network device is not established. Power consumption of the first terminal device can be reduced by using the method and the device in this application.