Change How Often Your iPhone Fetches Email
Everybody uses email. But did you know that having your email fetched automatically uses more data than fetching it manually? Crazy, right!? Therefore, those looking to save precious amounts of data per month need to alter how their iPhone fetches email.
Ideally, youll want to set it to manual this means the Mail app will only fetch new mail when you open the app and refresh it. Alternatively, you can set the Mail app to fetch every hour, every 15 minutes, or every 30 minutes.
Go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts. In here, youll be able to set fetch settings for all your different Mail and Calendar accounts.
Disable Apps That Use A Lot Of Data
There are certain apps that use more data than others, whether you use them frequently or not. For ones that you dont use often, turn off cellular data. For the iPhone: Go to Settings > Cellular > then under Use Cellular Data For switch certain apps to off. Check out these six smart tricks for your cellphone everyone should know.
How To Reduce The Amount Of Data Streaming Services Use
Matt Klein has nearly two decades of technical writing experience. He’s covered Windows, Android, macOS, Microsoft Office, and everything in between. He’s even written a book, The How-To Geek Guide to Windows 8. Read more…
Streaming services are so commonplace that we often give little thought to how much data they use until its too late. It can be a lot, but you can reduce data use and prevent overages with a few minor changes here and there.
Despite the large number of streaming services and their associated apps, its safe to say, one of them might be Pandora, Spotify, Netflix, or especially YouTube. All these have ways to change how much data they consume, which is especially important if you have a data cap and/or share bandwidth.
Obviously, of these, Netflix and YouTube will use more data and bandwidth. In fact, youre unlikely to experience bandwidth issues if youre merely streaming music but that said, if you listen to music all day, it adds up, especially if youre streaming higher quality audio.
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In Fact Kill Autoplay On Every App
The terrible thing about apps these days is that they all float video in your face, whether you want it or not. Sporting apps like ESPN are prime offenders. And while it may not seem like such a big deal, those videos burn through a ton of data. Make sure to disable autoplay in any apps you frequent.
First Check Which Apps Are Using The Most Data
This is really easy to do. Go into your Settings and click on Cellular. Scroll down to the menu that says Cellular Data. Here you can see exactly how much data each of your installed apps has used over time. You may be surprised.
You can also use this menu to gauge how much data you use per month. Just make sure to scroll down to the bottom and hit “Reset Statistics” at the start of your billing cycle. It’ll sync your info with each pay period and give you a way to monitor your data day by day.
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How To Your Check Data Usage On An iPhone
Most data plans do not carry over to the next cycle. Thus, if you go too extreme on the savings, you may have a poor experience and at the end of the month you may realize that several GBs of unused data will expire in a day and go waste.
Therefore, it is essential to know how to see how much data you have left. Here are four ways to do that on an iPhone.
Use Safari’s Reading List
You can queue up articles while you’re using Wi-Fi to read later when you’re on a cellular connection or out of range completely. When you add a page to Safari’s Reading List, Safari downloads it for offline viewing. To add an article to the Reading List, tap the at the center of the bottom navigation bar and then tap Add to Reading List. If you use iCloud, then it will share your Reading List with your other iOS devices, but you can stop it from sharing via a cellular connection by going to Settings > Safari and scrolling down to the bottom and toggling off Use Cellular Data for the Reading List feature.
Reading List is a handy way to read articles while you are offline, but it could use cellular data to share the list to other devices.
Chrome recently added the same feature but it requires an extra tap. To add something to Chrome’s reading list, tap the triple-dot button in the top right, tap the and then tap Read Later.
Editors’ note: This story was originally published on April 29, 2016 and has since been updated with more tips.
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Which App Is Using All My Data
Its time to dive in and discover which app is using so much mobile data. Fortunately, since the release of iOS 7, Apple included a helpful tool to help us get to the root of the problem. Head to Settings -> Cellular, and well find lots of helpful information that should help us figure out which app is sending or receiving so much data.
The setting youll see first allows you to turn off Cellular Data entirely, which you may want to do to avoid a hefty phone bill if youve already exceeded your monthly data allowance.
Next, youll see Cellular Data Options. Tap on it, then tap Voice & Data. Here youll see a helpful hint: Using LTE loads data faster.
It also uses mobile data faster. If youre trying to conserve data, you might want to try going without LTE for a while but I cant guarantee this will fix your problem. I recommend you keep reading before you decide whether or not to turn off LTE.
Next, scroll down to the Cellular Data Usage section. Theres one piece of this section that might be confusing: When you see statistics about Current Period, the Current Period listed here does not correspond to your iPhones billing period with your carrier.
On your iPhone, Current Period displays the amount of data youve used since you last reset the data usage statistics on your iPhone. Ill show you how to do that in a little while. If you already know how, dont reset your statistics yet, or we might end up deleting some helpful information.
Implement Data Saving Practices In Third
Many chat, call, and streaming apps offer a way to use less cellular data or block automatic media downloads when you’re not connected to Wi-Fi. If you are on a lower data plan, consider making use of these.
For example, in WhatsApp, open its Settings > Storage and Data option and enable Use Less Data for Calls. You may also turn off media auto-download over cellular connection.
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Save Those Netflix Shows
If you love to stream Netflix on the go, make sure you’re using the app’s offline feature. When you’re searching for a show you like, go to its main page and hit the download button on the far left. Search “Available for Download” in the menu to find out what you can actually download. Then, to find everything you’ve saved on your device, hit the downloads tab at the bottom.
Turn Off Cellular Data Usage For Icloud
If you use iCloud to move files back and forth between devices, this could lead to higher than usual data fees. If you are working on a Pages document during your Uber ride, that means youre using cell data. All those edits and changes are being saved to the cloud and using data during the process. So, if you can
When you disable this feature, iCloud will no longer use cell data to transfer docs or data, which will save power users some vital bits of data.
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Turn Off iPhone Data Use Completely
If youve completely burned through almost all of your data for the month, and you need to ensure that you absolutely dont get charged overage fees, the best solution is to turn off cellular data completely.
To do this, open Settings and tap Cellular. Then, simply flip the toggle next to Cellular Data. This will completely disable data use, and ensure you dont go over your cap for the month.
Tweak Your Apps Settings
Once you have an idea of the worst offenders, figure out ways to dial back their data usage. Here are some common culprits and how you can curb their appetite.
If the app in question doesnt have a setting that does what you want, you may be able to limit it at the operating system level. On the iPhone, head to Settings, scroll down to the app in question and turn off Background App Refresh, which will limit it from using data in the background. Or, from that Settings > Cellular screen, you can toggle the switch next to any given app to prevent it from using cellular data at all, allowing it to work only over Wi-Fi.
Android users can tap on an app from the Mobile Data Usage screen to turn off background data.
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Disable Automatic Browser Updates
You should update your browser regularly automatic updates are the ideal way of doing this. However, if youre tethering, you probably wont want your browser to suddenly download a large update over your cellular data connection.
- Chrome: Google provides .
- Firefox: Open the Options screen, click the Advanced icon, click the Update tab, and temporarily disable automatic updates.
- Internet Explorer: Internet Explorer updates itself through Windows Update. See below for more information on tweaking Windows Updates settings.
- Opera: Open the Preferences window, click the Advanced tab, select Security, and select the Notify me about available updates setting in the Auto-update box.
Note that leaving automatic updates disabled is a security risk. You should re-enable automatic updates when you have access to a proper Internet connection.
Some Internet Providers Are Temporarily Lifting Data Caps
Several internet providers, like AT& T and Comcast, are finding ways to work with their customers during these times of social distancing and learning from home. For example, Comcast announced on March 13, 2020, that they would temporarily suspend overage fees for 60 days, essentially giving unlimited data for that time period. If youâre concerned about overages, check with your service provider to see what theyâre currently offering customers in response to COVID-19.
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Use Apps Like Pocket Or Instapaper
For news or reading junkies who are constantly on the go, apps like Pocket or Instapaper are a huge data help. They allow you to save articles or long features onto your phone so you can read them offline. Pocket even integrates into Safari and Chrome and allows you to save articles from your browser. Just tap the Share icon and scroll over to the top row to the Pocket icon. Connect to Wi-Fi, and open your Pocket app to download the article. You’re free to read whenever you please, data free.
Hint : Restrict Your Apps Accessing The Mobile Web
This one is probably the most effective of the bunch, right next to Hint #1.
You can manage whichever apps are allowed to use your mobile data connection by going into your iOS Settings app and going through the list in the Mobile Data section of the settings panel. At the bottom of this settings screen, youll see a list of all of your apps and how much mobile data they have been using by either uploading or downloading files from/to the internet.
By switching any of the entries to off by disabling the respective toggle, we prohibit the app from using cellular data for their traffic.
Beware: Disabling crucial services such as the App Store can be rather confusing when you forget about it and only receive a cryptical error message about not being able to connect to the iTunes App Store. The changes are, however, completely reversible at any point in time.
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Disable Mobile Data Usage For Photos And Videos
Follow the steps below to prevent WhatsApp from automatically downloading Photos and Videos to iPhone, using your expensive Cellular data.
Open WhatsApp> go to Settings> Storage & Data and select Photos option located under Media Auto-Download section.
On the next screen, select the Wi-Fi option to prevent WhatsApp from downloading Photos using Cellular Network.
Go back to Storage & Data screen and this time select Video.
On the next screen, select the Wi-Fi Option to prevent WhatsApp from using Cellular Data to download Videos.
Similarly, you can set Documents and Audio to download only while iPhone is connected to WiFi Network.
How Much Data Are Your Apps Using
Just going to the Cellular option in Settings, and browsing through all the apps, and how much data theyve used, can be revealing, sometimes shocking.
For me, I listen to a lot of podcasts. Sometimes I stream them over data, when Im out and about. But the problem is that Overcast doesnt tell me just how much each episode weighs. So Im almost always surprised to see Overcasts consumption in the Cellular section.
Podcasts are my vice. Yours can be Instagram, Apple Music, or god forbid, YouTube.
For this page, youll be able to see the apps that use the most data. Best thing to do would be to find these culprits and outright disable their right to access cellular data. If you need, you can come back and enable it later on.
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Make Your iPhone Or iPad Use Less Wi
iOS 13 has a hidden feature to help you use less data, whether you are on cellular or Wi-Fi.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over two decades to helping users get the most from technology — whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera. Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs.
If you are not on an unlimited cellular or broadband connection, using a slow connection, or just want to limit the amount of data that your device consumes, iOS has a hidden feature to help you do just that.
The feature, called Low Data Mode, and there’s a separate setting for both cellular data and your separate Wi-Fi connections.
Here’s how it works.
According to Apple, the way Low Data Mode works is dependent on the apps in question, and that you should expect the following:
- Apps might stop using network data when you’re not actively using them.
- Background App Refresh is turned off.
- The quality of streaming content might be reduced.
- Automatic downloads and backups are turned off.
- Services such as iCloud Photos pause updates.
Apple’s own apps also respond to being restricted to Low Data Mode as follows:
If that feels like an OK compromise to you, here’s how you activate the feature.
Still Stumped Check Out Mail
If youre still not sure which app is causing your iPhone to use so much data, it will be helpful to know whether your iPhone is sending or receiving too much data. To your carrier, data is data theyll charge you whether your iPhone is sending or receiving data.
For the purposes of this discussion, however, knowing if your iPhone is trying to upload or download data can point us toward the source of the problem, especially if the data is being uploaded. If its not on your bill, you should be able to find out how much data is being uploaded and how much is being downloaded by logging into your account on your carriers website or by giving them a call.
I once helped my mom solve a problem with this very issue. She was burning through her data, and we discovered that one of her email accounts wasnt set up correctly. She had a message stuck in her Outbox, and her iPhone was trying to send it over and over again, even though it kept failing.
By logging into the her account on her carriers website, I found out that her iPhone was sending an inordinate amount of data, which caused me to ask, What could be sending so much data? Sure enough, the iPhone was stuck trying to send an email, and when we corrected her mail server settings and the mail actually sent, the problem was resolved.
Moral of the story: If your Mail isnt sending or receiving correctly, even if its from just one account, that could be causing this problem.
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How To Check And Reduce Data Usage While Working From Home
With your entire family under one roof while social distancing, youâre each relying on technology to keep you connected and entertained in different ways. From using video chat apps for school and work, playing video games, and streaming movies and shows on your smart TV, all of these things can add up to big time data usage. In fact, internet service providers like Comcast, AT& T and Verizon are reporting huge spikes in internet usage since schools around the U.S. closed and millions of people transitioned to working from home due to COVID-19.
At Asurion, we help our more than 300 million customers get the most out of the technology they love and rely on. And weâre here to help you maximize your devicesâ capabilities with these things you should know about navigating the world of in-home data usage, as well as 4 things you can do to reduce data usage on your iPhone and Android.