Mobile Data Best Practices Are you curious why your mobile data usage has skyrocketed? How are you rifling through data when you don’t subscribe to NetFlix and you don’t use social media…gulp…that much? Perhaps you aren’t looking in the right place. Hot Device & Short Battery Life The first signs that you are chewing through lots of data are a hot device and a battery that no longer last beyond your 10:30 cup of coffee. A hot device means the internal radio is active all the time. Usually, this is caused by apps that treat your mobile data connection like the light in your kid’s closet: always on whether you know it or not. All this time you thought high data usage was limited to those people who watch movies on their devices! Nope. Here are the apps that suck…literally…all your bandwidth and are not NetFlix or YouTube: Check out your lunchtime ritual: PB&J, NetFlix, and “Sons of Anarchy.” This common practice isn’t a crime but the overage charges are criminal. At 50Mb per minute (or 3GB per hour), you’ll quickly park the bike during that mid-day meal. What about Facebook? You know that feature where embedded News Feed and Ice Bucket Challenge videos begin to automatically play? Yea, that “feature” pre-loads all of those videos onto your mobile device, quietly sucking data all day long. Then there is picture/video uploading. Don’t shake your head and say, “Ha, I don’t use Pinterest or Instagram. You’re wrong!” No, I’m not, and here is why. You happily go through life shooting pictures and hi-def video. Within seconds of landing on your device, they get automagically backed up to the cloud, thanks to Dropbox, OneDrive, and iCloud. How awesome is that? Well, one problem solved…one problem created. Most phones take 12-16MP (megapixel) pictures by default. That is nearly 5MB (megabytes) per picture. HD video is about 200MB per minute. Remember, the meter is always running with mobile data. Last we checked, you popped off pictures like eating Tic Tacs: ten or so at a time. Take ten pictures and your data usage is the same as streaming the opening crawl for Star Wars. And the hi-def video? Well, it is 4 times bigger. It just clicked didn’t it…no pun intended. Take Back Control 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Switch to Wi-Fi: Easiest change to make. When you are at work or home, use Wi-Fi instead of mobile data. It’s usually free, usually faster, and usually keeps you off the CFO’s data usage radar. Uninstall Facebook app: It consumes more data than any other app. Period. Being #1 here is bad, bad, bad. Use your phone’s browser to access Facebook and stop the madness. Turn off Facebook auto-play: There isn’t a pay-per-click charge in your data plan. Click a video when you wish to watch it. Until Facebook figures a way to save the world one saved click at a time, turn off that ridiculous auto-play feature. Change your email sync to the last two weeks: You wouldn’t pack all your clothes into a suitcase for a one-day trip? So, why are you trying to shove 5,000 messages into a tiny little mobile device? Make this change right now! Change weather app updates: Folks, you don’t need a weather update every minute. Nor do you need real-time radar info all day long. Change these updates to every 4 hours, get up from your desk, and look out the window. Close your Internet cam app: It’s great to have a camera watching your new dog. Leaving the app up and running all day and you will have a new best friend…and it won’t be your dog. Close this app after you check on the pup. Check your notifications: Like a caffeinated cheerleader, many apps are constantly phoning home, sending data, and popping up deals. Go into the settings of these apps and turn OFF notifications. Turn off auto app updates: The OCD side of your brain wants to keep all your phone apps up-to-date. Left unchecked, your apps check in and update…all the time. Turn off auto-updates and wait until you are on Wi-Fi to grab them. Helpful Links How To Turn Off Automatic App Updates In Android, iOS, And Windows How To Adjust Mail Sync Interval and Frequency on Android How To Adjust Email Sync Frequency - iOS How To Manage Running Apps on Android How To Manage Running Apps on iOS How To Disable App Notifications In Android How To Configure ActiveSync Email on Android 4x and 5.x How To Turn Off Auto-Play in Facebook for All Devices