The best features of modern smartphones often require access to the internet, so in order to avoid a series of hefty phone bills – what apps use the most data?
Whether you rely on WiFi or mobile roaming, every app on your smartphone will one way or another use data to operate. Whether it’s refreshing your feed on social media, using your location for directions or even to receive an email, think of your phone’s apps as cars, and data as the fuel that they require in order to operate.
However, staying on top of what apps use the most data isn’t just about how much internet you’re using. Unfortunately, having too many apps ticking over in the background is also a surefire way to drain your phone’s battery life. Users might not even know which apps still use data even if they’re not in use, which is why it’s important to conduct regular check-ins when it comes to monitoring your data usage – but how exactly do you do that?
As a general rule, the biggest offenders linked to sucking up data on your smartphone are streaming apps like Netflix and Stan, social media apps like Instagram and Tik Tok, and apps that use your location such as Uber and Google Maps.
Thankfully, smartphones offer the ability to track the amount of data each of these apps in question are sucking up, and more importantly – how they use it. Depending on the brand of smartphone in question, most of the time users have the power to restrict outgoing data with a number of tweaks available.
For Android users, checking what apps use the most data is done by going to your phone’s main Settings menu, followed by Connections, and then Data Usage. On the next menu page, select ‘Mobile Data Usage’ to see a rundown of what apps you’ve used so far this month, and how much data they use. At the top of that page, users can also adjust the time period that they’re viewing, which in turn allows you to see how this month’s data use is stacking up when compared to the previous month.
In comparison, iPhone users also have similar access to managing what apps use the most data based on their unique scrolling habits. Simply go to the Settings menu, followed by Mobile, and then scroll down the page until you spot Mobile Data. This section outlines which app uses what in terms of data consumption, along with allowing users to ‘switch off’ which apps have access to mobile data. Users can also reset the data period measured at the bottom of the page.
If you’re prone to going over your data limit each month, the good news is that there’s plenty of options available to reduce your consumption other than simply turning it off.
Turn Off Automatic Downloads – Updates roll through for the apps on your phone every few weeks or so, but if you don’t have automatic updates turned off, these will be downloaded to your phone at any time – with or without a WiFi connection.
Adjust Streaming Settings – The easiest way to cut back on data usage is to lower the definition of your stream. While you’ll sacrifice quality, it may be better to watch a slightly lower quality picture as opposed to paying a bigger monthly phone bill.
Use Offline Downloads – Film, television and music streaming apps give us access to an enormous amount of content. If you’re likely to binge something whilst on your way to work or on a long car trip, download content to watch offline using WiFi instead of streaming it live.
Turn Off AutoPlay – Unsurprisingly, video is the biggest data killer. While not available on all apps, you can change your settings on social media apps like Facebook via Settings > Media and Contacts > Videos and Photos > Auto-play > Never Auto-Play Videos.
Monitor Location Services – Apps like Uber and Google Maps constantly use data to update your location, even when you’re not using the apps. To put a stop to this data sucker, users can alter the background location services via Settings > Privacy > Location Services.
SOS Phone Repairs are specialists in high-quality, cost-effective phone repairs, tablet repairs, and PC repairs, all backed with a six month warranty. Founded in 2015 in Coffs Harbour and now with over sixteen outlets located all over Australia, our primary driving factors remain the same: people and phones.
Whether it’s to get a few more years out of your trusted iPhone, to fix one up to sell, or to repurpose an old one as a gift, repairing a smartphone might just be easier and cheaper than you think. However, if you’re in the market for a new smartphone, SOS Phone Repairs also stocks a wide variety of refurbished handsets at a fraction of the cost of a brand new one.
While each has been carefully restored to perform at their best, all refurbished smartphones purchased through SOS also come with a twelve month warranty, and can be purchased at any of our sixteen store locations. Even if you’re not on the hunt for a new phone, it’s always worth bringing your existing one in for a free health check to ensure it’s performing at its best.
If you are on the hunt for a quote, diagnostic, or even just some good old fashioned, friendly advice, please don’t hesitate to get in touch or give us a call today at SOS Phone Repairs.
