10 Popular Smartphone Apps That Are Chewing Through Your Data Plan

Your mobile plan has a set amount of roaming data you can use before it begins to cost you extra money. Depending on your phone's plan, you don't have to keep track of it too much (unless you're watching what applications might be spying on you). However, if you use certain applications regularly, your data plan is draining at a faster rate than you might think. Several common applications require you to use more roaming data when you're not relying on your Wi-Fi, and you may consider finding ways to reduce the impact on your smartphone.

We've discovered multiple common applications that drain your mobile while you're using it. We detail how these applications drain your mobile data. We also share ways you can help prevent it to save your roaming data each month, besides reducing your time on the application or not using it when you're not connected to a Wi-Fi network. This list details 10 popular smartphone applications that are chewing through your data plan.

It's easy to lose gigabytes of your data plan to YouTube if you're not careful. As a primarily video-based website, streaming those videos on your phone can add up quickly, even if you're casually scrolling through the Shorts section. For many, you can expect to lose between 20 and 45 MB of data per minute, adding up to nearly 3 GB over a full hour. This is if you watch videos at 720p quality. The amount of data you can lose can go even higher, reaching 4 GB or even 8 GB per hour for anyone watching videos at 1440p. This changes if you use YouTube Music, which can use between 250 MB per hour at normal quality, and 750 MB per hour at a higher quality.

There are ways you can curb it, though. It all comes down to the video quality you chose to watch. If you want to lower it, a good idea is play with the video quality of whatever you're watching. Reducing the video quality to 144p results in up to 1.5 MB of data loss per minute, or 90 MB per hour, whilegetting closer to 480p might be a happy medium. You can expect to use 660 MB per hour. On YouTube Music, setting the quality to low can use around 100 MB of data per hour. You can also use YouTube Premium Lite, which recently added more major features.

It's easy to get lost in the short videos of TikTok, but that can be dangerous if you're trying to watch how much data you have left on your mobile plan. When it comes to TikTok, it's estimated that you'll lose somewhere between 750 MB and 1 GB of data per hour. A 30-second TikTok video uses roughly 10 MB of data, and this can add up quickly if you're busy scrolling through your feed, checking out everything available. When you're watching during your daily commute, it's easy to get lost and find yourself down a full GB of your mobile plan before you get to work.

There are ways to help reduce the amount of data that you dedicate while watching TikTok. A good way to do it is with the TikTok application itself. You can find it under the Settings menu, where there's a Data Saver option. What it does is lower the overall quality of any video you're watching. The option does include a noticeable change in quality, which means they might not look as good as you might have enjoyed. Still, it's a worthwhile choice if you're trying to still enjoy TikTok without using every bit of your mobile data. Alternatively, there's always TikTok Lite, available for those with slower internet connections and who want to save mobile data.

It's always nice and convenient to have Google Maps on your phone in the background while driving through a new area or on long trips. You can also use it when you're walking around a strange city, and you're not quite sure which street to turn on and where to go from there. The problem with it is how fast it can chew through your mobile plan data. With huge updates, Google Maps can rip through your data as you use it. You can use roughly 90 MB per mile when you're walking, or 15 MB per minute. An average hour-long session on Google Maps can eat through up to 200 MB. If you're on the road a lot, that adds up fast. 

There are multiple ways to reduce the amount of data Google Maps uses through the Standard Navigation mode, including using offline maps. You'll be able to do this by entering the route you want to take while you're connected to a Wi-Fi network. After you have the route set up, there's an option in the application for you to download the offline map, and you should be set. Now, Google Maps uses your smartphone's built-in GPS chip to show your location on the route, allowing you to follow it with turn-by-turn directions while you're offline. It saves you mobile data throughout the trip, but you do need to reconnect to the internet if you want to choose a new destination. If you have the luxury of planning a trip in advance, this is definitely the way to save data. 

Facebook is another social media application that you might use on your smartphone, and you might be surprised how much of your mobile data you need to dedicate to scrolling through your timeline. It's possible for Facebook to use between 50 and 100 MB for light scrolling ot text, but that shoots up to 500 MB to 1 GB for heavy, high-definition video viewing in the reels section.

You'll certainly use more data on your mobile phone if you're spending time watching videos, especially if they're in higher quality or if you're posting some yourself. Images also play a role in this, and you might see your data closer to 600 MB if you're viewing photos people post or posting your own.

A good way to curb this data usage is to refrain from posting images or videos you take until you get to a dedicated Wi-Fi signal. You'll also want to go into your profile settings and turn off the video autoplay section. Even if you're not choosing to interact with a video, if it's automatically playing, it's going to use data. Additionally, if you are relying on your data plan, you may want to stick to viewing or interacting exclusively with text-based messages on Facebook.

What might surprise many users is how much Safari can demand of your mobile data plan. Safari is the standard web browser for Apple and many Apple products, meaning you'll likely encounter it on iOS devices. Of the various mobile web browsers, Safari is the one that uses the most mobile data while you're using it, and frequently when you're not using it. You can expect to lose roughly 56 MB every 5 minutes you use Safari. Even if you're not scrolling through it or typing in a quick query, Safari might be using some of your mobile data when multiple tabs are open in the background of your smartphone.

A good way to avoid using too much of this data is to close any browser tabs you have when you're finished using them. You may want to avoid using the Safari browser altogether, unless it's an emergency or you critically need information. You may always want to turn off Roaming Data whenever you're away from home to ensure that leaving any browser tabs open doesn't slowly drain your mobile data. Apple (unsurprisingly) suggests avoiding using rival browsers like Chrome for some legitimate reasons, but if data consumption is your top priority, Safari tends to eat it up the fastest.

When it comes to casually scrolling, Instagram is another application you might enjoy that can decimate your mobile data if you're not paying attention. As a photo-based application, Instagram images can use between 500 MB and 1 GB of your mobile data per hour. Although this can go up if every image you're looking at is set to the highest quality. A smartphone has to pre-download all of it so you can quickly scroll through everything, which takes up a lot of data. Instagram goes beyond images, too, offering videos you can watch, which increases the amount of mobile data dripping away.

There are a few ways that you can reduce the amount of mobile data you use on Instagram, and these methods are built into the application's settings. You can choose to lower the quality of the images and videos that appear while you're scrolling, reducing the amount of mobile data you expect to use per hour. Go to Settings and privacy> Data usage and media quality>Use less cellular data (iPhone) or Data saver (Android). You also want to turn off the save original photos feature, which archives and downloads any photos you instantly take on your smartphone and post on Instagram from your gallery.

If you're looking through Pinterest to find some inspiration, a new favorite recipe, or art, there are a lot of reasons to continue scrolling through it during your day. Because of the number of images, sponsored videos, and large lists, the application pre-loads videos that you have pinned and plays them automatically, even if you're not focused on them. When this happens, expect to use 85 MB of your mobile data every 5 minutes, and this can add up to costing you 1 GB per hour. It might not feel like you're using too much of your mobile data, but based on how many images and videos show up as you're scrolling, it only gets worse if you don't attempt to contain it.

There are a few ways you can go about cutting the amount of data Pinterest uses. You can prevent the videos from autoplaying by adjusting your application settings, stopping them from playing if you're not choosing to watch them. You can also reduce the quality of these images in the settings that appear in the application while you're scrolling. Images are the biggest part of Pinterest, and this can account for most of the mobile data you're losing while you scroll.

Twitter (X) is another application you can download and lose time to while you're on your commute to work or sitting in a waiting room. A problem with your mobile data is how easy it is to scroll, followed by the number of images and videos that appear on your timeline at any given time. You can expect a paid advertisement with a video, and many users post an image alongside their text. Depending on your interactions and what you're doing, the amount of mobile data you use can range from 60 MB to 1 GB per hour, especially if you regularly watch or click on user-posted videos. These videos will eat up your data, but you can expect to lose less data if you only stick to text and images.

A good way to help save your mobile data is turn off autoplay video features. You'll prevent the videos from automatically playing while you read someone's post on Twitter (X). If you need to take it a step further, you can turn off HD images on your timeline, lowering the quality of everything anyone posts. You also want to make sure you're not posting your own images or videos to others, as this can eat up your mobile data.

Snapchat is another application where you can do multiple things, such as texting, calling, sharing videos, or posting reactions to things you're watching. Those who use more of the text-based posts won't see a huge spike in their data plan. However, for average users who do videos and even call people on it, a data plan can quickly run out of juice, with hourly usage rates ranging between 30 MB and 360 MB per hour. It's a wide range based on what you're going to do. Still, for many users who regularly share images and videos with friends and followers, it's easy to lose track of mobile data. It became more of a problem because users can keep their stories up for over a week for Snapchat+ subscribers.

As with many applications, Snapchat does offer a data saver option for those who want to continue using it on a limited mobile data plan. You can modify this by enabling Data Saver mode. The option lets you set how long you'd like this setting on, so if you don't set it when you next turn it off, it'll return to normal after a few days. You can also limit location permission, switch off autoplay, reduce image quality, and turn off the Background App Refresh function in the settings on your profile. You'll also want to refrain from sending any images or videos while you're away from a Wi-Fi network.

Threads is another social media platform where you can post images and videos for followers and other users. As expected and similar to Twitter (X), someone can expect to use 50 to 100 MB per hour if they stick to the text portion. However, when you begin watching videos, looking at high-quality images, and posting these yourself, expect to use 1 GB per hour. When you're watching multiple videos on Threads, they're short-form and easy to consume as you're scrolling through them. These videos can be as short as YouTube Shorts or TikTok videos, but they can also reach up to 5 minutes long. For anyone who regularly watches these longer ones, expect to see more of your mobile data dedicated to Threads, as it's becoming more of a favorite for many users.

The best way to keep your mobile data compressed while using Threads is to place the Data Saver option on. With it on, videos that you scroll past won't automatically play, and you'll avoid getting hit by these small instances of lost data. It also reduces the quality of the images you see while you're scrolling. You don't have too many other options when it comes to Threads, though. The Data Saver option is your best choice, along with not posting anything.