Most of the people reading this use an Android or iOS smartphone
for their daily needs. With the content on the Internet becoming richer
with images and video each day, everyone is scared of finishing up the
limit on their data allowance pack. Unlimited data packs are
unfortunately a myth in India and there is only so much you can browse
in a given period of time, over the Internet that is.
Here is a list of nifty tips and tricks that will help you optimize
your data usage patterns and get the most out of your Internet
browsing, even if it involves viewing cat GIFs.
DO NOT Upload images and videos while on the go
With Full HD and 4K resolutions being the norm for smartphone cameras
nowadays, a minute of footage can consume upto 400MB of your storage
space. So, the biggest pro tip of all is not posting/uploading any such
image and video on to the Internet, when you are not connected to your
Home or Office WiFi.
Use Google Maps Offline
Recently, Google launched the feature of offline Maps on their Google
Maps service, something that was announced at Google I/O 2015. With this
addition, you can now download the complete maps, including
step-by-step directions, for specific areas or complete cities. All you
need to do is download a relatively small file of your preferred area
and you can then access directions, even when offline. Real-Time updates
won't be available though.
Get off Facebook or get the web app
It is a widely known fact that the native Android app is not exactly the
most battery-friendly app on your smartphone. With 24/7 background app
refreshes, Facebook takes up a lot of your data allowance. Best option
here would be using its web app. Simply access your browser (preferably,
Chrome) and open the Facebook website, click on Add To Home Screen in
the Overflow menu and, voila, the web app is now on your homepage.
Compress web pages on Chrome browser
If the Chrome browser s your default browser for all the browsing and
streaming needs, compressing webpages on it might help a lot. Launch
Chrome, go into Settings and click on Data Saver. Toggling this option
to Active will initiate compressing of all further Chrome web pages.
Results show that almost 30-35% data usage is saved with this simple
trick.
Use offline games and productivity apps
A lot of games and other applications nowadays require an active
internet connection to operate, even if they aren't actually using it
all the time. They require it for downloads that might occur at
different intervals. If you are into such games it isn't exactly great
news for your data plan as games like Asphalt 8 and Real Racing may
automatically download updates, that go upto 800MB, while you are not
connected to a WiFi network.
Disable auto-updating in Google Play Store
By default, the Google Play Store has a setting of auto-updating all the
apps that are present on your Android smartphone. This leads to
frequent downloads when you are using your data pack. For getting rid of
this annoying feature, go into the Settings tab of the Google Play
Store and click on Auto-Update Apps. From here you can select whether
you wish to auto-update only on WiFi or not update at all.
Use offline Music whenever possible
Music streaming services including Apple Music, Spotify and Wynk are
extremely popular currently due to their nature of providing most songs
at great convenience. Although, great news for the lazy bums in us,
these applications take up a lot of the data allowance, especially when
songs are streamed in HD quality. To prevent this, you can download
songs on your smartphone beforehand so that there is already an offline
database when you get the urge to listen to songs on the go.
Switch mail sync to manual mode
The default app for Android, GMail, is on auto-sync and push mail mode
and that is one of the features that most users like, keeping them
updated in real-time. While highly convenient, this feature may lead to
high data usage when not needed. When you are expecting a lot of mails
to arrive or just want to restrict data usage on the go, just go into
the Settings menu for Gmail and unselect the Sync Gmail option.
Disable auto-play on the Facebook app
With Facebook rolling out the Autoplay video feature last year, majority
of people and pages on Facebook have started publishing more and more
of video content. If you are a heavy social media user and browse
multiple times, when on the go, you should disable the auto-play mode to
restrict excessive data usage on the smartphone. Simply go into the App
Settings for the Facebook app and toggle settings from the Video
Autoplay tab.
Monitor data usage patterns
If you are tired of repeating the practice of going over your data
allowance every time, it's time to monitor all this usage keenly. Apps
like MyDataManager help you track the amount and pattern of data packets
that specific apps are using. It even categorizes the proportion of
background usage that these apps so that you can manage and restrict the
same. The app also notifies you when you go over your preset data
limit, giving you warnings as you get closer.
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