Application states of applications associated with a communication device can be network controlled. An application agent, associated with an application used by the communication device, controls transitioning the application between application states based on network indicators received or network events detected from a communication network. The application states include active state or doze state. An application management component associated with the communication network at least partially controls transitioning the application between application states to facilitate controlling network traffic or reducing network congestion. The application agent or application management component can map application states to various factors, including radio states, congestion level, application performance indicators, network policies, or user policies, to facilitate determining which application state to apply to an application at a given time. The application agent can be in a centralized location, or at a same or different location as the application source.