Instagram and Snapchat Are Blowing Up Your Phone…And Not in a Good Way

While some phone companies offer unlimited data plans, those of us using other carriers aren’t so fortunate (but we have great coverage!) and therefore we have to be a little more picky about how we use our limited data.

An article I read really put my social media and data use in perspective. With the popularity of 6 to 15-second videos on apps like Instagram and Snapchat, data usage in the U.S. has jumped to an unprecedented amount. A study showed that an estimated 500 million Instagram users collectively share over 95 million photos per day (at 600KB per photo) for a total of over 1.6 billion MB a month! 

So what does this mean to you? We are not by any means suggesting you give up Instagram or Snapchat, heavens no! But here are some tips to make sure your social media needs don’t end up costing you an arm and a leg in overage fees:

1) Connect to a Wi-Fi network whenever you can
Make sure your phone settings are set to connect to a Wi-Fi network whenever one is available and when that list of connections pops-up, don’t disregard it!

2) Upgrade your home network
Now that you’re connecting more often to a wireless network rather than using 3G/4G (we hope), you should think about upgrading your network to handle the increase in bandwidth demands. Check out the 11AC products on the market, which deliver increased wireless speeds/ranges and are better equipped to accommodate multiple connected devices.

3) Schedule your apps to sync at longer intervals
All smartphones use data in the background to sync with applications for status updates, new mail, available upgrades, etc. You can manually change many of your apps to only sync periodically, stopping your phone from constantly scanning for updates.

4) Monitor your data usage
Now that you know how much data some of your favorite apps can use, you can better “limit” your usage. Check your stats every now and then just to stay in the know (at least when you go over you won’t be surprised).

We think you should enjoy sharing photos and posting videos as much as those with unlimited data plans do and we hope these suggestions help you do just that!