With greedy Smartphones now eating more and more of our Mobile data allowance, here are our Top Tips for controlling your data.

1. Use Wi-Fi

Use Wi-Fi where ever possible and save your mobile data. When it comes to using your mobile for high usage events such as streaming or opening large documents if it can wait, wait until you are connected on the Wi-Fi.

2. Limit background data

Review what’s using cellular data and make any necessary changes. For iPhone, this is located under Settings > Mobile Data. Android this can be found under Settings > Data usage. Let the apps you don’t necessary use all the time just have access to Wi-Fi. Doing so might also help battery life since these particular apps are not active in the background as much.

3. Change your Browsing Habits

It’s always better to browse the mobile version of the website on a mobile device, so avoid using the desktop versions of a site if you can. Also, despite taking up a fair amount of storage on your phone, the browser cache is actually a good thing here. By preserving your cache, you won’t have to download images from frequently visited websites every time you visit them.

4. Stop Push Notifications

Most apps with push notifications on are ‘working in the background’, gobbling up data so you can stay informed. If these aren’t necessary switch them off.

5. Know your data

Below you'll find a list of common things you'll use the mobile internet for and how much data they'll use up.

  • Watching a 2hr movie in standard definition: 1.9GB
  • Watching a 2hr movie in high-definition: 4.2GB
  • Streaming 1hr of video on Netflix or iPlayer: 644MB
  • Gaming online for 1hr 43MB
  • Streaming music for 1hr 80MB
  • 60 web pages 140MB
  • Download one song 4-8MB
  • Download one film trailer 60-100MB