Simple Ways to Manage Your Mobile Data Use

We’ve all received that pesky notification from our mobile carrier letting us know that we’ve reached our high-speed data limit for the month. It doesn’t even seem possible that we could run through data that quickly! So, what is it that’s using up all of our data?

How Much Data Do You Use Daily?

You’d be surprised how much data your regular day-to-day applications use up. If you have an iPhone, you can see the actual application data consumption for each app by going to Settings and then Cellular. You’ll notice that it’s your favorite social networking apps playing a big role in data consumption.

One key feature that uses up a large amount of data is autoplay. Apps like Twitter and Facebook automatically play videos which then eat right into your high-speed data. If you go to your Facebook settings, you can either disable the autoplay feature completely or choose to only autoplay videos when you have Wi-Fi.

On Twitter, you can also choose to turn off the autoplay feature or only use it when you have Wi-Fi. Twitter even lets you choose video quality to save data. You can choose to never play high-quality videos or only play them when you have Wi-Fi.

Instagram is another app that automatically plays videos, it even preloads videos and photos so they play as soon as you enter your feed. With Instagram, the setting to remove this feature isn’t as clear. Instead, go to Settings, select Cellular Data Use, and turn on the option that says “Use Less Data”. Videos will still autoplay with this feature, but they’ll stop preloading.

For Snapchat users, you can also prevent both Snaps and Stories from preloading by enabling the “Travel Mode” feature on the app’s settings.

But what about browsing, how much data does browsing use? Know exactly how much data is used to surf the Internet by looking in your phone settings. The amount of data you’re using during web browsing really depends on the kind of websites you’re visiting. If you’re visiting websites with a lot of images and videos, it will use a lot more data. General speaking, if you’re just looking at the news or doing some online shopping, you may be using about 60MB per hour.

How Much Data Do Streaming Services Use?

The amount of data used in streaming depends on what you’re streaming. Streaming audio uses less data than streaming videos, as expected. So when you’re using Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube Music, you’ll be using a range of roughly 0.72 to 2.40MB per minute depending on audio quality.

If you have Spotify premium, you can download songs or even specific playlists using Wi-Fi and stream them offline which will help save some of your data.

When you’re using your favorite streaming services, however, like Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, or Hulu, you might find yourself using between 0.3GB to 7.2GB per hour depending on video quality. Keep in mind that to use the estimated 0.3GB per hour would require extremely low-quality videos, like 240p. A standard quality video uses roughly 0.7GB each hour.

To adjust your data use for Netflix, launch the app, click the triple-line button, and select App Settings. Then, click on the option for “Cellular Data Usage” and adjust your settings as needed!

Remember, you’re always better off using Wi-Fi to stream videos and audio. However, you want to make sure you have a data package that covers all your needs.

Using Data While Traveling

Data roaming is another issue. When you’re traveling internationally, using data will result in astronomical fees on your bill if you’re using your domestic carrier. If you’re a frequent traveler that needs constant access to the Internet, social networking apps, and digital media, you may be better off using an international service provider.

POND mobile provides Voice, SMS, and Data services in 210+ countries around the world! With our service, you can select the plan that best fits your needs and pay a fixed monthly fee (so there’s no need to consider hidden costs). This price will remain the same across all countries, so you’ll have one less thing to worry about in your travels. For those of you who are heavy data users, we have specific Global Data Plans. If you can’t find a plan that matches your specific needs, reach out to us and we’ll come up with a customized plan, specially made for you.