Some of the apps most used by Android smartphone users not only consume a lot of data during use, but by remaining active in the background, they keep the mobile connection active silently, taking up bandwidth and even memory, with consequent slowdowns or additional costs. Those who do not have flat internet connection plans should therefore modify some options on these applications, so as to be able to limit the use of the data connection and avoid too high consumption which can exhaust the gig of the subscription or the rechargeable SIM.
Below, therefore, we see how to have a limited consumption of data on the Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Spotify, Gmail, Chrome, Firefox, Whatsapp, Instagram, Google Photos and Google Maps apps, changing some options within the same applications.
NOTE: For a general saving in the use of the data connection we have already seen in another article App to control data consumption on Android phones.
1) YouTube
In Youtube, press the button at the top right to then find the settings button.
From here, go to Autoplay and turn off autoplay of the next video to what you are watching.
If you use Youtube Premium you can change the download and background playback options, limiting the video quality.
Even better, if you use Youtube on Android without its more advanced functions, it may be a good idea to use the Youtube Go app, the lightest version intended for countries with slower networks, downloadable from the APKMirror website.
2) Facebook
Facebook has an option to reduce the use of data found in Settings and privacy> Data saving mode .
In this mode, you can choose not to use data saver when connected to a wifi network.
Turning on Data Saver reduces image size and turns off automatic video playback.
Autoplay of videos can also be disabled by going to Settings and privacy> Settings> Multimedia and contacts> Autoplay, setting up only with wifi connections or if you never play videos automatically.
Facebook is another of the apps on this list that offers a "lite" version that uses less data and takes up less space on the phone.
Facebook Lite can be downloaded from the Google Play Store.
3) Twitter
Twitter's data reduction settings are located in Settings and privacy> Data usage .
There are a few options here that you can tweak to limit data consumption when using Twitter and also when it is in the background.
In particular, you can prevent Twitter from automatically uploading videos in high quality if you are not using a wifi network or completely.
In Data Synchronization, it is worth turning off the option that synchronizes data in the background, so when you open the app you can update the news.
Twitter also offers a very light mobile lite version, in which the data saving option is found in the settings.
Unfortunately Twitter Lite must be installed by APKMirror
4) Instagram
Instagram has a generic data saving function which can be found by going to your profile, then on the button with three dots at the top right and then on Settings> Accounts> use of mobile data .
From here you can activate the Use less data option.
Instagram warns that enabling this setting will cause longer upload of photos and videos.
5) Netflix
On the Netflix app you can completely limit the use of data traffic.
You have to touch the More button at the bottom, then go to App settings and change the cellular data consumption by deactivating the Automatic option and putting Data saving instead or only wifi that does not allow you to watch streaming movies if you are connected to the data network.
Still in Netflix settings, you can activate the wifi only option under download, in order not to download episodes and videos with the mobile connection.
6) Spotify and music apps
All streaming music apps like Spotify definitely have the option to adjust the quality of the streaming and, consequently, limit data consumption.
In Spotify you have to open the Settings menu, scroll down to find the music quality set to Automatic.
You can then select low to keep data usage to a minimum, or Normal for a better balance between quality and consumption.
Plus Spotify also has a data saver option at the top of the settings
Also make sure that downloads from the cellular network are disabled.
7) Gmail
In Gmail there are some settings related to the use of the data connection.
These are found by pressing the menu button at the top, going to Settings and tapping on the account name.
Below, under the Data Usage section, you can deselect Gmail sync, even if it turns off notifications and receiving new messages in the background, unless you open the app with manual sync.
You can also stop the automatic download of images received via email in Gmail by tapping Images and selecting Ask before showing .
If you want, you can download and install Gmail Go, a light version of Gmail, also this time from the APKMirror site.
8) Chrome
Chrome is a big data consumer, so it's always recommended to turn on its data saver option.
This is found in Settings> Data Saver .
This is Google's solution for slow connections and reducing the use of 3G or 4G traffic, which works through data compression.
In practice, this means that the images may not be exactly sharp.
The data saver option will highlight how much traffic was saved while using Chrome.
Unfortunately it does not work with https sites, that is, almost all of them.
If you want to install the most optimized browser to save data traffic, you can try Opera Mini.
9) Firefox
Firefox is another Android browser that offers some options for reducing data usage:
To find them, press the menu button (three dots), go to Settings> Advanced> Data saver .
Here you can ask that the images are displayed only on Wi-Fi.
You can also disable the option that displays web fonts, preventing Firefox from downloading fonts when loading a page (albeit with minimal savings).
10) Google Photos
If you use Google Photos to backup photos to your mobile phone, you need to be sure that this backup only takes place via wifi.
Then check the Settings> Backup and synchronization, that the Backup via data network options are both disabled.
If the Photo option is not selected, the Video option is disabled by default).
11) WhatsApp
To limit the data consumption of Whatsapp go to Settings> Data and archive usage where you can choose whether to activate the automatic download of photos, audio and video messages when using the mobile network.
By default, Photo is already selected, but it can also be turned off.
Obviously the automatic download must be disabled when roaming.
In addition, below there is an option to keep traffic low during calls, when using the mobile network.
Finally, by tapping on Network Use at the top, you can see how much data has been downloaded while using Whatsapp.
Other messaging apps like Telegram have similar settings available.
12) Google Maps
With Google Maps it is better to prepare and download (from home in wifi) the maps to use Google Maps as an offline navigator in the city where we are.
We saw in another article how to download Google Maps, which can then be managed and viewed by going to Settings> Offline Maps .
To avoid the use of the data connection in Google Maps, you can touch, in the main settings menu, the Only wifi switch
Using only offline maps, you will not get walking or cycling directions and there will be no real-time traffic information.
To save memory and data, you may also prefer to install Google Maps Go, the lite version available on the Google Play Store.
READ ALSO: Consume less internet data on 3G / 4G traffic and WIFI (Android and iPhone)
