The arrival of offers at 20 or more GB made the control of the data consumed on our smartphone almost completely superfluous, since we will hardly be able to finish all the data in a month. Things change drastically if we often travel abroad, we often use video streaming services (such as Netflix for example) or if we still use an old data offer of less than 10 GB: in these cases it is very useful to limit the consumption of data by of the operating system and from the apps on the device, so as not to run the risk of finishing all the data included (and paying extra navigation costs, even very expensive ones). In this guide we will show you how to limit the consumption of data on the iPhone, one of the most popular smartphones and on which the need to limit the consumption of data hardly arises, creating situations in which we spend a lot of money without even realizing it.
READ ALSO: Consume less internet data on 4G traffic and WIFI (Android and iPhone)
Consume less internet data on iPhone
Below we will find all the methods that we can use on an iPhone to limit data consumption, saving several Megabytes that would be "wasted" in the moments when we need it most.Check data activation on iPhone
To check if the data is active, just go to the Settings app and select the Mobile menu; if the cellular data option is activated, the phone will navigate in LTE or 3G whenever we find ourselves in an area without Wi-Fi coverage.If we have recently used the Hotspot option, the data consumption will be decidedly high, especially if we have connected to it a Windows PC (which carries out many updates and backgroung downloads); we check in Settings -> Personal Hotspot if the voice of the same name is active.
If, on the other hand, we often travel abroad, we can reduce the consumption of data on the iPhone by deactivating the roaming connections, going to Settings -> Mobile and remove the check mark on the item Data roaming ; on some iPhones we will have to open the Cellular Data Options menu and disable the Data Roaming item. By doing so, we can surf abroad using only public or private Wi-Fi, without consuming data traffic.
The destination of the trip is in Europe "> Free roaming in Europe: limits, conditions and additional costs. If instead the trip is in a non-European country, we can read our in-depth analysis on the costs of data roaming, internet, SMS and calls abroad .
Check which apps consume a lot of data
In addition to checking the operation of the mobile part on the iPhone, we can limit the consumption of data by checking which apps consume the most from this point of view, opening the Settings app, pressing on the Mobile menu and scrolling down the page until you find the Cellular data section .
We will see all the apps that have connected to the Internet via LTE or other connections (3G or 2G); those with higher consumption are present at the top and we can disable them access to the cellular data network by simply removing the check mark next to their name. In this way the app will no longer be able to connect to the Internet using cellular data (we will drastically reduce the consumption of the data offer) but will return online as soon as we are connected to a Wi-Fi network.
Reduce background data consumption
Many apps (including system ones) present on the iPhone remain active in memory to show notifications, functions on the screen or to receive news in real time, even when the phone is locked (screen off). This behavior leads to a constant consumption of our data offer, which can lead to excessive costs if you exceed our monthly data traffic limit. To check the apps that act in the background, we open the Settings app again, press the General menu and finally press the Update app in the background menu.
Once we reach the screen, we press on the top item Update app in the background, then make sure that the Wi-Fi voice is activated, so as to allow the update only when we are connected to a Wi-Fi network. If we want to act more precisely, we can also disable the button next to the names of the apps (in the previous screen), so as to completely prevent the background update to the apps that we consider superfluous (eye with messaging and social apps, since in fact we will disable notifications).
The same setting can be replicated by taking us to the Settings app, scrolling the page until you find the section where the apps are present, pressing on one of them and deactivating the Update in the background item .
Check app notifications
Instead of acting drastically on updating apps in the background, we can reduce unnecessary app notifications, thus saving a lot of data. To do this, go to the Settings -> Notifications path and choose which apps to prevent notifications from appearing on the iPhone.
From the list of apps on the screen we can choose which apps to show all the notifications for and which ones should not show anything, so as to limit the consumption of data only on the apps that interest us.
Block automatic updates
A good method to limit the consumption of data on the iPhone (especially when we are abroad) is to disable all automatic updates for apps and for the operating system, so as to avoid heavy downloads. To disable app updates for the cellular data network, open the Settings app, press on the iTunes Store and App Store and turn off the button next to the Automatic downloads item, located under the Cellular data section.
In this way, the apps and other content managed by the App Store and the iTunes Store (Music, Books and audiobooks) will be downloaded only when we are on the Wi-Fi network.
To stop the search and download of updates for iOS, go to the Settings -> General -> Software update path, press on the bottom item Automatic updates, then disable the button next to the item of the same name.
Now the updates will be downloaded and installed only when we personally open the indicated page and start the search (possibly under Wi-Fi network).
Uninstall unnecessary apps
The last good advice we can give you to limit the consumption of data on the iPhone is to uninstall the useless apps, so that you don't even have to disable them from running in the background or from accessing the data network. To uninstall an app, press and hold one of the app icons with your finger, press Reorganize the apps, press the X-shaped symbol on the app to be uninstalled and finally press Delete .If we want the iPhone itself to remove the apps that we haven't used for some time, we open the Settings app, press on the iTunes Store and App Store, then tap the button next to the Remove app item that you don't use .
The operating system will automatically take care of deleting the apps that we haven't used for some time, allowing us to limit the consumption of data on the iPhone.
Conclusions
Most iPhone users are perfectly capable of reducing data consumption by applying the proposed suggestions in a fairly automatic way; for those who come from Android or are the first time using an Apple smartphone, it will do well to store all the tips, so that they can intervene personally when data traffic is scarce. The rules to avoid extra data connection charges with the smartphone are however the same.If we want to limit the consumption of data on an Android smartphone, we recommend you read our guides on how to prevent apps from using the data connection on Android and how to limit the apps that consume the most data traffic (Android) .
