Whether you’re catching up on your emails or checking up with your friends on Facebook, if you're out of the house you're probably using quite a lot of mobile data! Depending on the tariff you're on, you might end up being charged if you use too much – which means it’s vital to keep track of how much you’re using.
To help you with this, here's a quick guide to checking your data usage, as well as a few tips to help you reduce the amount you’re using.
Helpfully, most smartphones now include a way of monitoring your data without having to worry about using third-party apps. Here’s how to do it:
Checking your data on Apple iOS 8 or 9
To monitor your data usage on an iPhone, go to Settings and then Mobile Data. Depending on which network your iPhone is on, this may also be listed as Cellular – but either way, it will be just below Bluetooth. From here, scroll down to the section headed Mobile Data Usage (or Cellular Data Usage).
Here you can see how much data you have used, and also keep track of any roaming data usage. Roaming data is data used when you’re abroad and can be very expensive, so it's great to be able to track this separately.
You'll notice that the page only shows data usage over a certain 'period'. By default, this is the time since you last factory-reset your iPhone – so there's a good chance it'll show you all the data you've ever used in the phone's lifetime!
Usefully, though, you can also manually reset the data – and all the other stats on this page – by tapping the Reset statistics link which appears at the bottom.
Data-Saving Tips
On this page, you can also see all the apps that have used mobile data, and see exactly how much each app has used. If you notice that an app is using too much data for your liking, you can turn off data usage for each app individually. This will, of course, stop that app from using mobile data – but it will still work correctly when you're connected to Wi-Fi. Again, you'll need to manually reset the usage statistics by tapping Reset statistics.
iOS9 also saw the introduction of Apple's Wi-Fi Assist, a feature which automatically switches from Wi-Fi to mobile data or vice-versa, depending on which connection is faster.
This is supposed to help you always have the best experience when using the Internet, but has concerned users who are working with small data allowances. To disable Wi-Fi Assist and take control over your phone's Internet, go to Settings then Mobile Data, then scroll down and tap on Wi-Fi Assist to disable it.
Checking your data on Android KitKat, Lollipop or Marshmallow
Modern versions of Android now contain a data usage monitor. To access this, go to Settings and then Data Usage.
This will show you a graph of your data usage over a specified time, and you can also scroll down to see your apps arranged in order of how much data they use. You can also set a data usage warning level as well as a concrete limit to prevent you going over your allowance (or any other amount you care to set).
You can use the orange and red bars on the graph (see right image) to set these levels. When you hit the data limit, the phone will automatically disable data usage to prevent you from getting charged extra by your mobile network.
If you regularly download apps or browse the Internet, then mark our words: you'll soon find this data usage monitor invaluable!
If your Android phone doesn't have the data usage monitor built into the settings menu, there are plenty of alternatives available through the Play Store which can help you track your usage, as well as warn you when you're close to your limit.
Checking your data on Windows Phone
The Data Sense app is included in all versions of Windows Phone 8. To access it, swipe across from the home screen to access the list of apps on your phone, and find Data Sense in the list. They should be in alphabetical order.
Data Sense has similar functionality to the other apps we've talked about, as it allows you to see total usage, individual app usage (swipe to the right to see these) and also set data limits.
To set a data limit, tap the settings icon along the bottom of the screen, then enter both the data limit and the day of the month that you want it to be reset. The phone will then automatically keep track of the data usage for you.
Again, whether you simply want to keep tabs on how much data you're using or you're actively looking to reduce it, Data Sense won't disappoint.
BlackBerry
The latest BlackBerry smartphones running version 10.3 of the BlackBerry operating system have a built-in data monitor, similar to the other smartphones we've mentioned. These devices include the Passport, Classic and Leap – the BlackBerry Priv actually sits in the Android category! If you don't have a BlackBerry running OS 10.3, there are apps available in the BlackBerry World app store which can help.
If you do have an up-to-date BlackBerry, you can access the data usage monitor by going to Settings, then tapping on App Manager. Next, tap on the Device Monitor link, then tapping the menu button will allow you to check your Mobile Data usage.
For 'classic' BlackBerry devices running BBOS 6 and BBOS 7, there is again no native data monitoring support – but there are apps available through BlackBerry World to help you. There are quite a few apps, both free and paid-for, which can help monitor your data consumption.
Mobile Network Apps
All the apps we have talked about so far are built into the operating system on your phone, so they allow you to quickly and easily monitor your data usage. However, this may not be 100% accurate – and the data usage actually recorded by your mobile network may be different.
If you want to make sure you know exactly how much data you’re using, then you'll need to get the information directly from your mobile network. Fortunately, most mobile networks have their own apps that you can install on your smartphone that will tell you exactly how many minutes, texts and megabytes you've used.
To download the correct app for your network, just go the normal app store for your phone and search for the name of your mobile network. The app you need will normally be the first one in the list.
That should be all you need to know about monitoring your data on your smartphone. If you have any other questions, leave them below and we'll try and answer as many as possible!