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These days, apps and social networks consume a lot of data, but luckily there are a few simple steps that can help us avoid depleting gigabytes instantly
Nowadays smartphones are becoming more and more advanced, and thanks to various applications we can do literally anything with our phone. The price you pay for this interactivity is to have an internet connection.
Spotify, Instagram, and Netflix are some of the apps that consume data on your mobile plan. Fortunately, in order not to be left without a fast connection before renewing our monthly offer, we can monitor data consumption in real time. How can we do that? It’s simple, we just use our operator’s application. Please download the official app for Wind / Tre, Tim or Vodafone from the Play Store or App Store, depending on the operator associated with our card. After installing the app, go to the Data Usage section, where you will see the remaining Giga and a detailed recent usage report.
How to check your applications
As we said, there are applications that consume more than others. On your smartphone, you can check which of them “burn” the data from your tariff plan the fastest and block it in time. To monitor the situation, go to Settings, then click on Wireless & networks and then Data usage in the menu. On the page that opens, we will get a complete report, almost always in order of consumption, of the various applications installed on the phone. Be it WhatsApp, Facebook or Twitter, we’ll almost always see social apps and messaging apps at the top of the list. If we do not want to deprive ourselves of the constant use of these services, we can also download the official “Lite” applications, i.e. the lighter ones, using less connection data.
Data Saver with Android Nougat
Google, along with Android Nougat, the latest version of its mobile operating system, introduced a very easy-to-use feature to monitor the data used each month. Thanks to this tool, we will not only monitor individual applications that consume the most energy, but also create black and white lists. In this way, we can set a general or specific limit for each application, so we can block them or not use them without Wi-Fi after exceeding the monthly threshold we set. To access this feature, simply go to Settings, then select Wireless & networks, then click on Data usage. By clicking on the icon with three vertical dots in the top right corner: a menu will open in which you can select Data Saver. A new page will open where you need to activate the feature.
Previous Android Versions
Not all Android smartphones have Nougat. So what can we do to reduce data usage and control the apps that use the most data on these devices? Simple. First, we follow the steps described above and check which applications use the most data on our phone. To do this, just go to Settings, then Wireless and networks and finally Data usage. At this point, we decide which applications to block in the background. That is, to prevent them from opening spontaneously. To activate the lock, go to Settings, then go back to Data usage. Then click on Other. The graph will show us how much data is used when the app is in the foreground and how much is in the background. To activate the lock, select Turn off background data in the app
Beware of automatic updates
Google almost always sets automatic app updates by default to make it easier for users to use them. A convenient solution, but if the update of 10 or 20 applications starts when we are away from home and with the data connection turned on, we will use a lot of data from the monthly subscription. Updating the app is important, but it should only be done over Wi-Fi. Therefore, it is best to go to the Google Play Store and set Automatically update only when connected to Wi-Fi.
