Increasingly, smartphones are used not only in everyday life, but also in the work environment, so it is important to pay attention to how much traffic they consume. This could be a personal smartphone at the workplace or issued by a company; in any case, traffic costs money. If its consumption level is not optimized, money will be wasted.

Unlimited tariffs for Mobile Internet are expensive, most often tariffs are applied with a certain volume of traffic, for exceeding which you need to pay additionally. There are also tariffs that pay for each megabyte. In this case, it is especially important to reduce traffic consumption to a minimum.

Fortunately, the operating system settings Android systems allow you to reduce traffic consumption without significantly affecting the quality of work with the device. Below are 12 recommendations on this issue.

1. Traffic consumption diagnostics

   Before you can solve the problem, you need to understand it, so open your smartphone settings and find the section called "Data transfer". Look for the section here "Mobile data".

   You'll see a detailed overview of exactly which apps have consumed your data the most in the last 30 days. If you wish, you can set the period for which you will view your traffic consumption. The biggest spenders are usually social media apps, browsers, video and audio streaming programs, and the store. Play applications Store.

   Tap an app or service to take a closer look at your data usage. It shows how much is spent in active mode and how much in background.

2. Turn off unnecessary background activity

   Once you have found out what and how much traffic is being consumed, it’s time to resolve this issue. Start by reducing unnecessary data usage background. This is different social media and news apps because they tend to check for content updates at regular intervals. You can disable this behavior, usually you won't notice much difference.

   Open social and news applications one by one and look at their settings to save data. For example, in the Twitter app on Android, there is a section in the settings called "Data usage". Click on it and uncheck the box "Synchronize data", this will not prevent you from receiving notifications, for which there is a separate settings section.

   Apps like Flipboard have a section called "Reduce Data Consumption", which by default is set to « Full use» . Change the option to "On demand" or "Don't use mobile data", because you don't need news updates unless you're looking at the app.

   If you have an application that consumes a lot of data in the background and cannot be controlled in any way in the settings, like Facebook, use system-level controls. Open section Settings > Applications and select the desired program. On the screen that appears, click on the section "Data transfer" and turn off the switch "Background mode". This will prevent the program from running in the background unless you are connected to Wi-Fi networks.

   You need to be careful when turning off background activity. For example, if you disable it in Messenger, you will not receive messages when your smartphone's screen is turned off. You probably won't want to miss messages from your contacts. The same applies to Facebook, until you launch it manually, you won't know that there are new notifications about other users' activity.

3. Stop autoplay

   Videos consume a lot of bandwidth, and many apps have a bad habit of launching them as soon as your back is turned. Social networks like to play videos automatically when you scroll through your news feed, but this can be prevented.

   

   In the Facebook app, you can open the main menu and in the settings there are options to disable autoplay. On Twitter, a similar option is located in the “Data Usage” section, where you can also disable image previews in the feed and disable high-quality video when working on mobile networks. Instagram, Snapchat and other social networks have similar settings. Find them and disable them.

4. Data compression when working on the mobile Internet

   Next you need to force the browser to consume less traffic. In the browser Google Chrome on Android there is a function called "Traffic saving", which, when turned on, compresses the data as it is transmitted to you. This not only saves traffic, but also makes sites open faster. This option is available at the very bottom of the settings window.

   

   If you want to save traffic even more, use Opera or Opera Mini browsers. They have their own options for compressing web pages, videos, and limiting file downloads to Wi-Fi networks only.

5. Optimize your music apps

   Do you have an application? Google Play Music? Open its settings and find the option "Transfer quality" mobile network" Install "Low" or "Average" and make sure that this sound quality is enough for you.

   Here, make sure that the option is enabled "Transfer via Wi-Fi only" and think about the option "Caching Streaming Music". It forces you to download each song you listen to on your device for local storage, so that when you listen to it again you don’t have to waste your bandwidth again.

   If you listen to the same songs often, enable this option. If not, it’s better not to touch it, so as not to waste extra traffic, especially when choosing low audio quality.

   Play Music isn't the only app with these settings. Spotify, Pandora and others music services and podcasts have similar controls. Always look at the settings in such applications and limit their traffic consumption.

6. Saving on YouTube

   Continuing with the streaming theme, open the YouTube app and go to Settings. "Are common". There is a “Traffic Saving” option to broadcast video only in low quality using the mobile Internet, leaving HD for Wi-Fi networks.

   On the same page, disable the option "Autoplay".

7. Download multimedia content in advance

   The best option to reduce consumption mobile traffic when streaming, avoid it altogether and many applications provide this option. You just need to download the content in advance via Wi-Fi so that it is stored locally on the device.

   If you have a Google Play Music subscription, you can download videos from YouTube to watch anytime. In YouTube settings, find the section "Background & offline". If you don't have a Play Music subscription, this section is missing.

8. Offline navigation

   What else wouldn’t hurt to download in advance is this Google Maps. The next time you need navigation, open the Maps app over Wi-Fi. Select the route you need and download the map you need.

   

   You can manage downloaded maps in the application settings in the “Downloaded areas” section.

9. Play Store

   Applications need to be updated. But the size of the updates can be large, so you can accidentally use up a lot of traffic on your mobile Internet.

   To prevent this from happening, open the Play Store, in the settings, set the auto-update option to "Only via Wi-Fi".

10. We eliminate leaks

    It's time to think about unused applications. They need to be deleted or at least disabled if they cannot be deleted, especially if they are in the list of traffic consumers. They may use up a little data, but why is that necessary?

11. Checking account synchronization

    In settings, open the section "Accounts", press "Google" and select your account. Here you will see a long list of what is synced with account. Most likely, you have never used some services. Disable synchronization for them, and if you have multiple accounts, repeat the process.

12. Radical measures

    If you want to save as much as possible, the Android version has a Data Saver system tool that prevents most applications from using the mobile Internet if they are not open on the screen and are not actively used. They won't be able to run in the background, including notifying you of incoming messages, unless you're on Wi-Fi or add apps to your exceptions list.

    This is a drastic measure if you want to at least temporarily reduce traffic consumption to a minimum. The option is located in Android settings.

In your mobile phone settings you can find a section called “Data Transfer” or “Data Usage”. This section calculates the traffic that the user spends on his phone.

But many users do not know what traffic is and what to do with the traffic values ​​that are displayed in the mobile phone settings. If you also have not yet figured out this issue, then we suggest that you read our article.

Traffic is the amount of information that mobile phone sends and receives from the Internet. Traffic can be measured in packets, bits, or bytes. But in phones, bytes and their derivatives (kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes) are usually used as a unit of measurement. Traffic counting is necessary so that the user can control his Internet expenses.

When traffic is counted, it is usually divided into several types. This can be incoming, outgoing, internal or external traffic. But the phone usually doesn’t have such detailed statistics about traffic usage. Instead, the phone simply shows the total amount of data that has been used over a period of time. In some cases, separate counts may be kept for mobile Internet (traffic transmitted via cellular communications) and Wi-Fi.

If necessary, traffic counting can be organized on any device that is connected to the network or the Internet. For example, if you need to count traffic on a computer with operating system Windows, then for this you can use such programs as TMeter, NetWorx, BWMeter or DU Meter.

How to view traffic on Android

In order to see traffic consumption on an Android mobile phone, you need to open the “ Settings" and find the section there " Data transfer" or " data usage" For example, on pure Android 8.0, to do this you must first go to the section " Network and Internet", and then open the subsection " Data transfer».

Here you can see how much traffic was used over the last month and take advantage of the functions that allow you to manage your mobile Internet expenses. There is also information about the amount of information that was transferred via Wi-Fi.

If the information that Android provides is not enough for you, then you can install special applications for traffic counting. For example, you can use applications or.

How to view traffic on iPhone

There is a similar section with traffic information on the iPhone. If you have an Apple mobile phone, then you need to open the settings application, go to the " cellular " and scroll the screen to the item " Statistics».

Here you can see the total amount of data from the Internet, as well as data that was received while roaming. In addition, the iPhone gives exact value traffic for everyone installed application. This allows you to quickly identify the applications that access the Internet most often and increase your mobile phone costs.

If the information provided by the iPhone is not enough for you, then you can install special applications for counting traffic. For example, you can use applications or.

How to save traffic on your phone

If your Mobile Internet expenses seem too high to you, then you can take a number of measures to reduce the amount of traffic consumed:

• Turn off mobile Internet when you don't need it. Simple but very effective advice. If you are severely limited in mobile traffic, then mobile Internet should be turned off at every opportunity.
  
• Explore your phone settings. Explore the settings available on your phone. You'll likely find a variety of features and functionality that can help you reduce your data usage and control your mobile Internet costs.
• Use a browser with a saving feature. Many browsers have built-in bandwidth saving tools. For example, you can use the Opera browser. This browser passes all traffic through its own servers, where it is pre-compressed.
• Try to always connect to Wi-Fi. While you are connected to a Wi-Fi wireless network, you transmit traffic through this network, while the mobile Internet is actually turned off.
• Explore application settings. In the settings of many applications there is an item “Only via Wi-Fi”; after enabling it, the application will only use the Wi-Fi network.

We want to present you with some tips that will help reduce data usage by unnecessary applications and a few tricks that will reduce traffic consumption to a minimum. These tips work on Sony, Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola and other smartphones running the Android operating system.

Install Opera Max

Opera Max is a must-have application for those who have slow EDGE and GPRS Internet. It compresses all your mobile traffic, which is why applications that require the Internet work noticeably faster. In addition, thanks to proprietary features, it saves up to 50% of traffic. I have the same Samsung Galaxy S5 this figure was about 42%!

Turn off automatic updates

Automatic updates consume greatest number traffic, since many programs are installed on your smartphone and some of them are updated by developers regularly. So if you forget to turn off this option on your gadget, then the Internet will be used without your knowledge in the background.

To turn off automatic update go to Google Play -> " Settings" -> "Auto update app" and select " Never" or " Only via WiFi"depending on what you need.

Data compression in browsers

Using Chrome and Opera browsers, which provide data compression capabilities, you can significantly reduce traffic consumption, since websites will load photos in a compressed form, and the pages themselves will not execute all the JS code. This format reduces data consumption by up to 30%. Enabling this option in your browser settings will help you save traffic and not exceed your tariff limit.

To enable compression for Google Chrome, go to " Settings" -> "Traffic control" -> "Reducing traffic" and move the slider to "Enable".

Data preloading and caching

On YouTube, for example, you can use the “watch later” feature. This allows you to download any content and videos over WiFi to watch another time. Google Maps always helped us walk through unfamiliar cities and crowded streets without any problems. You can pre-download a route or map and view it without using mobile Internet any time you need it along the way. This will save the number of megabytes and also save battery power.

Turn off automatic sync

Social apps and other notes-type programs use automatic synchronization, which allows you to use the mobile Internet by running in the background when you have an update or the program needs to sync data with your account. By turning off the automatic synchronization option, you minimize traffic consumption, since applications will only update when you launch them, for example, while connected to WiFi.

You can do this by going to " Settings" -> "Data transfer" and uncheck the box " Auto-sync".

Turning off mobile data and setting a limit

Turn off mobile data when you don't need it - good way save precious megabytes as all applications running in the background will automatically stop. If you are traveling, sleeping or attending an important meeting, turn off the Internet. You can set a limit on Internet consumption. This setting will warn you as soon as you approach your Internet consumption limit.

This option is available in " Settings" -> "Data transfer" - > "Set limit". Move the red slider up or down to set the desired limit.

You can also install AdBlock Plus for yourself. After this, advertisements will no longer be shown in applications, and accordingly, precious megabytes will not be spent on them.

These few very simple steps can help you control your data usage and reduce your internet costs.

As users move more and more towards services cloud services, traffic saving becomes an important element for increasing bandwidth Internet. In addition, some tariff plans today require payment for the amount of downloaded data. This is especially true for mobile providers.

What kind of traffic saving program can actually be implemented? Below are some effective ways.

Blocking websites with streaming content

The first thing you should do is block access to streaming media sites (such as Netflix, YouTube and MetaCafe). Of course, watching a small video on YouTube will not make a significant difference and will not make your Internet connection slow, but large volumes of such content require a lot of bandwidth. By disabling access to all resources of this kind, you will notice that saving traffic is very possible.

Stopping an application in the cloud

If you're always running in the cloud, check to see if your application has a throttling mechanism. Such a service will require a lot of traffic and take up most of the bandwidth. This will not be expressed significantly if you do backup small files (for example, Microsoft documents Office) throughout the day. But when you start uploading bulk data to the cloud, the initial backup should be created only on your computer. If constant throttling is left unchecked, it can have a significant impact on your data usage.

Limiting VoIP Use

VoIP is another traffic intensive one. If you plan to use this technology, you should limit the duration of calls as much as possible. If you talk for a long time and use any of its extensions when working with the service, saving traffic will not be effective.

Using a cache proxy

A cache proxy can help limit the amount of traffic generated by your web browser. The basic idea is that when a user visits a website, the content of the page is cached on the proxy server. The next time the user visits the same page, its content should not be loaded again (since it already exists in the cache). Using a cache proxy not only saves bandwidth, but can also give users the illusion that the Internet connection is much faster than it actually is. This is a useful quality, no matter what tariff plan you are using.

Centralization of application updates

Today, almost every application is configured to download periodic updates over the Internet. You can save a lot of bandwidth by centralizing the update process. For example, instead of allowing every device in your home to connect to Microsoft Update, you need to download all the updates and then make them available to individual gadgets. This way, the same updates won't be downloaded over and over again.

Using Hosted Filtering

If you manage your own mail server, then excellent traffic savings will be provided by using Hosted Filtering. Thanks to this service, the data will be downloaded on the cloud server, and not on your email server. This server receives all mail that is intended for you, filters out spam or messages containing malicious software. The remaining messages are sent to their destination. You can save a lot of traffic (and resources mail server) due to the fact that numerous spam will not be downloaded to you.

Active scanning for malware

Malware can use up a lot of traffic without your knowledge by using your computer as a bot. Be diligent in your efforts to keep all your online devices free of infection.

Using QoS to Reserve Traffic

QoS stands for quality of service. This mechanism (bandwidth reservation), which was first introduced in Windows 2000, continues to be relevant today. If you have applications that require a certain amount of bandwidth (for example, video conferencing applications), you can configure QoS to reserve the required amount of data bandwidth for that application. This traffic saving only applies when the application is actively used. In other cases, the amount of data reserved for the application becomes available for use for other purposes.

Make sure you're not overpaying for traffic

As noted above, many factors influence the Internet, so you cannot expect to be able to connect to every website on maximum speed your connection. However, your Internet connection should provide performance that is fairly close to what you pay for.

It is very unlikely that a provider will intentionally provide someone with a slower connection than what is provided for in the contract and payment, but there are often cases in which the connection ends up being split across multiple devices. In the case of such a shared connection, the user activity of one of the devices can directly affect the download speed of data. If your internet connection isn't as fast as it should be, try to sort out all the connections on your network.

In addition, it is necessary to regularly monitor the traffic that you spend while working on the Internet. If you notice significant overspending, you should think about which services you are using too much. If the traffic savings are quite noticeable and you do not consume most of the data provided by the provider, you can think about switching to a lighter tariff plan.

Opera browser and Turbo mode

The well-known “Turbo” mode, which is available in any version of the Opera browser, as well as in Yandex.Browser, can be used not only to speed up downloaded data, but also to reduce traffic volumes. The essence of its work is that when loading pages, the servers of the browser itself are used, and due to this, the amount of data downloaded when connecting is reduced. Therefore, if it is important for you to save data transfer volume, work only in Turbo mode.

In this case, there will be no problems with how to disable traffic saving. Just go to the appropriate settings and disable the above option.

Savings on mobile devices

Unlimited tariff mobile operator It is much less common, and many people use the 3G function. How can traffic savings be achieved on a smartphone?

If you have an Android device, you can set a traffic limit that can be consumed in a certain period of time. There's even an alert setting available that can be placed on your desktop as a widget. You don't even need a special application to save traffic for this.

To make such settings, you need to go to the “Settings” menu, select “ Wireless network" and in further paragraphs find the "Traffic Control" tab. Depending on the Android OS version, the names of menu items may differ. Once in the specified setting, you need to set a limit on the amount of data that you allow for use. If you exceed the limit you specify, the Internet will simply turn off.

Traffic savings: beta versions of special mobile applications

Nowadays there are also more and more special programs and browser extensions designed to save traffic. One of the most famous is Opera Max beta, which is specialized software that compresses any transmitted data. Thus, the beta program saves traffic not only through the browser, but also through information from instant messengers and other applications running on the Internet.

The concept of saving Internet traffic appeared during the existence of metered wired Internet. Nowadays unlimited wired Internet supplied at reasonable prices. And here unlimited tariffs providers that supply wireless Internet may not yet be affordable for everyone. How to save money cash, working with a metered Internet connection? In addition to consciously refusing unnecessary operations of downloading files and visiting web resources, you can save Internet traffic by using various ways and browser tools. What these methods are and what these tools are – more on that below.

1. Ways to save Internet traffic

1.1. Ad blockers

One of the effective ways to save traffic is ad blockers. Blocks with contextual advertising, especially if they are animated banners, usually make up the majority of Internet traffic. So ad blockers perform two constructive missions - they block ads and save money for metered Internet users. The ad blocking feature can be implemented in any browser that supports installing extensions. However, ad blockers on individual sites will have to be disabled. Thus, some media resources will not allow access to free video viewing until the ad blocker is disabled for their sites. Popular ad blockers include, etc.

1.2. Traffic compression mode

Especially for slow Internet connections, some browsers provide traffic compression modes. These are modes in which traffic passes through the servers of the technology provider, and on user devices, site pages are displayed in a compressed form - with reduced image quality, blocked flash animation, etc. Traffic compression modes are useful not only in conditions of slow Internet, but also when working with low-power computers and slow websites. Traffic compression modes are also used as a way to access territorially blocked sites. Thus, traffic compression involves the mediation of the technology provider’s servers, and they, accordingly, perform the same role as proxy or VPN servers. If the technology provider's servers are not located in the country where the site is blocked, access to it will be allowed. Traffic compression modes are preinstalled in Opera and Yandex Browser. And in Google Chrome and browsers that support working with content from its store, the traffic saving mode can be implemented using a special extension.

1.3. Blocking the Adobe Flash plugin

To save Internet traffic, you can configure a permission request before use Adobe plugin Flash. Without the user's permission, the Flash animation player will not start and, accordingly, consume Internet traffic.

1.4. Locking images

Blocking images on web pages is a last resort. Image blocking is, like ad blocking, effective way saving traffic, plus it significantly speeds up web surfing, not only in terms of the speed of opening sites, but also as a method of focusing attention on useful information, not pictures. Blocking images is usually provided in the browser settings, but for these purposes it is better to install a special extension with convenient access to the toolbar. For Chromium browsers and “successors” of the Gecko engine, this extension is Chrome HTML Content Blocker, it implements buttons on the browser toolbar to block images, as well as other types of content. The extension can be installed in the Opera stores (for itself and Yandex Browser), Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

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Which of the methods described above for saving Internet traffic are implemented in popular browsers and how to use these methods?

2.Opera

The Opera browser comes with two effective traffic compression tools on board. In its settings (section “Basic”) you can activate the standard ad blocker.

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And use the Opera Turbo function, a traffic compression technology patented by Opera Software.

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As part of Opera Turbo, Flash content is blocked automatically and launched manually by the user. Block completely Adobe Flash or you can configure its operation outside of traffic compression mode in the “Sites” section of Opera’s settings. Image blocking can also be configured here.

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3. Yandex.Browser

With the permission of Opera Software, Opera Turbo technology has been developed to collect the best from other browsers - Yandex.Browser. The traffic compression mode in Yandex Browser is called “Turbo” mode. This mode automatically activates in conditions of a slow Internet connection. You can enable it yourself in the browser menu, and configure it in the “Turbo” section of the browser settings.

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Yandex.Browser is equipped with its own ad blocker, but not all ads, just aggressive ones.

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On board we will find a flash data blocker in the add-ons section

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and an image blocker are among the features of the Protect panel.

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4. Google Chrome

The traffic compression mode using Google technology in the Chrome browser and its clones appears after installing the “Traffic Saving” extension. To enable it, you must activate the “Traffic saving” checkbox.

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Without installing special extensions, you can block Adobe Flash and images in Chrome settings by clicking the “Show” option additional settings" and clicking the "Content Settings" button in the "Personal Data" section.

5. Vivaldi

Vivaldi browser built on Chromium and supports installing Chrome extensions. You can implement the traffic compression mode in this browser using the same “Traffic Saving” extension. Vivaldi is notable for its built-in features and effects for web pages, including:

• image blocker;

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• banner blocker and reading mode.

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The reading mode on board Vivaldi can be used as a tool for saving traffic, since when activated for each individual site, the article materials of such a site will always open in reading mode - a book format cleared of web elements. You can configure Adobe Flash blocking in Vivaldi settings, in the “Web pages” section.

6. Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox does not have its own data compression technology, nor one implemented through extensions. But this is at the time of writing. There have been experimental "Internet accelerator" extensions throughout the browser's history, and there may be more in the future. On this moment You can save traffic when working with Firefox using extensions - ad blockers and other content blockers (Content Blocker), in particular, the mentioned HTML Content Blocker.

Have a great day!