A data communication method, and a user equipment relate to the communications field and implement isolation for programs using a container technology. The user equipment includes a host machine running on a hardware layer of the user equipment, and at least one container running on the host machine, where each container corresponds to a different container instance. The user equipment determines whether an application program runs in a safe mode when a start instruction for running the application program is received, and performs security authentication with a server when the application program runs in the safe mode. The user equipment starts the application program in a container instance selected by a user when the security authentication succeeds, and performs data communication with the server using a communication channel corresponding to the selected container instance.