In this video, I’ll be showing you ten easy ways to save or use less mobile data on your
Android phone. Following these methods should mean you won’t be using up your data allowance
as often if its limited. Throughout today’s video, the method to change some of the settings
might be slightly different depending on the device manufacturer, as some will run slightly
different versions of Android. I’ll be using a Samsung device but whatever your device
is you should still be able to follow along. Remember to leave a like and feel free to
subscribe if the video helps, let’s move on to the methods to save data on your Android
phone or tablet. The first method is to turn on Data saver
or Lite mode in Google Chrome. If you use Chrome often to browse the web, this one should
really help and make a big difference. Lite mode in Chrome will save data by loading less
on a webpage, you shouldn’t notice much change on sites, but they will load quicker
and with less to load, you will use less data. To turn on data saver or lite mode as it might
be called, load up the Chrome browser and tap on the three dots icon in the top right.
Now choose settings from the list and in here, scroll down until you find where it says lite
mode. It should be in the advanced section. Tap on it and then use the toggle switch to
turn it on. You might be able to turn on data saver mode in other apps too, so check in
the settings. Let’s move onto method two. The second method to use less data in Android
is to set up a data warning and limit. A warning will help remind you when you are approaching
your limit of data and the limit itself will stop you from using data completely. This
might be helpful to prevent you from getting carried away when using data. I would advise
setting the limit and warning less than your mobile plan’s limit as it may not be 100%
accurate when calculating data consumption. To add a data limit and warning in Android,
go to the settings page and find the mobile data settings. For me, it’s within the connections
section. Choose data usage or similar and you should see an option that might be called
billing cycle and data warning. If it won’t let you tap on it, you might need to turn
on mobile data to be able to access it. In here, change the day the cycle resets, you
will want this to be the same as on your mobile plan and then you can select the warning and
limit. Of course, the warning needs to be lower than the limit but feel free to choose
whatever you think will work best for you. Method three to use less data is to turn on
data saver mode in the Android settings. Turning this on will help prevent apps from using
data in the background and it should make a noticeable difference. To turn on data saver
mode in Android, head to the settings and then back into the connection settings. Choose
data usage and in here there should be the option to turn on data saver. As this will
limit the usage of some apps in the background, you may want to allow certain apps that you
rely on to be able to work normally. To do this, tap on allow app while data saver is
on and then use the toggle switches to choose which apps are allowed to have normal data
usage. Let’s move onto the next method. The fourth method is to remove any apps that
use high amounts of data. Obviously, you will only want to remove apps that you don’t
need, but there might be some using lots of data without you knowing. To check which apps
use the most data, go into the data usage settings and then choose mobile data usage.
You should now see the list of apps that use the most data. There’s more info available
about each app if you tap on them. To remove apps from your device, you can either uninstall
them from the home screen or from within the application settings.
Method five to save data is to use different versions of apps that may use less data. A
lot of apps, such as Facebook and Google maps have lite versions. Google maps for example
has an app called Maps Go and it will use Chrome to allow you to access Google maps
and should therefore use less data. You can get them from the play store and to check
that they are official, they will be made by the same company as the original app so
Google LLC if they are Google apps, such as maps. Let’s move on to method six.
The sixth method to use less data is to cache maps in Google maps. If you use maps a lot
for navigation, you can cache certain areas of the map in order for it to not require
data usage. To select a map to save in Google maps, tap on your profile icon in the top
right and then choose offline maps. Now tap on select your own map and then use the box
to choose the area of the map you want to download. Once this is done, you can navigate
and use this map whilst having mobile data turned off.
The seventh method is to check for updates and also scan for viruses. Outdated software
and possible viruses and bugs might cause unnecessary data usage. It’s unlikely but
worth a try. Of course, you’ll want to update when on WiFi only and to check that you have
the latest update installed, go into the settings and look for an option called software update
or similar. In there, you should be able to check for updates by choosing download and
install, or at least that is the option that works for me. If there is an update, you can
download it and install it now, but if you are going to restart to fully complete the
update, just make sure you have your work or progress saved before doing so. To check
for viruses, you might have a device care option in the settings like me which you can
run, or you can get an anti-virus app from the Play Store. Let’s move onto method eight.
Method eight is to stop certain apps from running in the background completely. This
is similar to some of the earlier methods but to close apps that are running in the
background, you need to go back to the apps section of the settings. Find the apps on
this list that you want to prevent background usage for and tap on them, now this method
might be different for you but tap on battery and then turn off the toggle switch that allows
background activity. You will probably want to avoid changing this setting for apps you
use often or rely on notifications from. Let’s move on to the next method.
The ninth method to use less data in Android is to make sure that apps are set to update
over WiFi only. This is a setting that is found in the Play Store, so go into the Play
Store and tap the top left icon to bring up the menu. Now choose settings and you should
see options relating to auto update apps and auto play videos. Tap on them and make sure
they are set to over WiFi only. Let’s now move onto the final method.
The final method is to change some of the sync settings on your phone. If your phone
is constantly syncing to your Google account, then it may use data. You don’t need to
turn this off completely, but you should be able to change some of the options based on
your usage. Sync settings will be different for each account on your device, so first
go to the settings page and choose accounts and backup or similar. Now select accounts
and choose one of your accounts. There now might be an option named sync account, tap
on that and then you have the options to turn off sync for some of the things you use. If
you use all of these then leave them on, and if you are unsure it’s probably best to
leave them on as well. And so those are my ten easy ways to save
and use less data on your Android device. If you have any questions, then let me know
in the comments below and if you did find today’s video helpful remember to leave
a like and feel free to subscribe for more tips in the future. Be sure to stick around
to see some of my other videos that you might be interested in. Thanks so much for watching
and I will see you in another video!