11 Ways to Reduce Data Usage on Your Android Device

Cloud services, online videos, social networks, this series of smartphone applications all require the use of network functions. If you are in a non-WIFI environment, you will use data traffic. Although most users have chosen data traffic packages, it may not be enough for complex network applications. Once exceeded, you will face high phone bills. Therefore, we might as well use some tips to limit the traffic consumption of Android devices. Here are 11 tips:

1. Choose to upgrade the application only in WIFI environment

In the Google Play Store, you can go into the settings and select the automatic update rule as "Automatically update only under WIFI environment." In addition to the Google Play Store, many third-party app stores also have this feature.

2. Configure application data settings

In many cases, in order to give you a smooth network experience, applications will continue to update in the background, so it consumes a lot of data. Fortunately, these applications should have an option in their settings to "not download on 2G/3G networks", so just turn it on.

3. Limit background data

Even if the pre-download services of some applications are restricted, they will still send or receive background data. We can check which applications are secretly sending or receiving data in the "Settings"-"Data" option and select "Limit background data".

4. Make good use of cache services

Many online video software provide caching or preloading services. By caching videos locally in a WIFI environment, you can watch them without an Internet connection, which saves a lot of traffic.

5. Download files under WIFI environment

Generally, only download large files, such as music, videos, etc., in a WIFI environment, and do not use a cellular data connection to download.

6. Use the offline cache function of the map

Google Maps is very useful, but it needs to rely on the Internet. However, the latest version allows you to cache maps offline. Therefore, when you go to an unfamiliar environment, you might as well download the offline map of the area under WIFI environment first.

7. Adjust the synchronization function

After logging into your Google account, everything will be synchronized by default, including photos, application data, etc., but we can set it to be synchronized manually to save traffic. Just go to the account settings interface, select the synchronization option, select the account, and turn off some content that does not need to be synchronized.

8. Temporarily turn off the synchronization function

If you need to go abroad or stay in an environment without WIFI for a long time, you need to completely turn off the synchronization function. The operation is very simple, just pull down the notification bar and turn off the synchronization shortcut tag.

9. Reduce browser data usage

It's no surprise that web browsers are often the culprit for data consumption, especially when browsing websites that are not optimized for mobile networks. In this case, you can choose to compress browser data, which will compress the data to the cloud and then send it to your phone. For example, in the beta version of Google Chrome, you can find the relevant option in the function settings.

10. Monitor data usage

It is also necessary to choose some third-party software to monitor data usage. For example, QQ Mobile Manager provides the function of monitoring the usage of WIFI and 3G/2G data. You can also pre-set the data flow. Once it approaches the package value, the software will issue a warning to prevent the flow from exceeding.

11. Compress all data activities

Some software, such as Onavo Extend, also provides the function of compressing all data activities. It is suitable for all software that requires network functions, can simplify emails, compress web pages and photos, and achieve less data consumption.

Source: cnet