The disclosed technology is directed towards managing the establishment and maintenance of communication connectivity between a device and service. Condition data can indicate when to initiate a state change of a connection between a device and a server. Current device conditions associated with the device are evaluated to determine whether to initiate a state change, e.g., from a connected state to a paused state, or vice-versa. The connectivity may be managed per connection type, e.g., cellular versus Wi-Fi, and on a per-application basis, e.g., turned on for a social media application, off for mail and messaging applications. Settings can be used to manage connectivity for an application, e.g., sometimes connected, sometimes paused based on information specific to that application. Trends, user practices and schedule data can be used to predict and manage connectivity, as well as to notify the user to take some action.