Vaughn's tips to cut your phone's data use

  • 11/02/2016
Vaughn Davis (Paul Henry)
Vaughn Davis (Paul Henry)

Modern phones use more juice and more data than the old Nokia we used to charge once a week. But how much of each they use depends on the apps you use, and how you use them. What are some of the biggest “vampire” apps?

Want to make your phone last longer? Delete Facebook!

Turns out one of the biggest battery suckers is the Facebook app, and deleting it could save you 15-20% juice every day!

Facebook uses a lot more memory than other apps and checks for updates regularly, even when your phone is asleep.

HOW TO:

Make sure you know your login email address and password before you delete the app!

On iPhone: delete Facebook and log in via Safari

On Android: delete Facebook and log in via Chrome

Using Facebook via a browser doesn’t really feel any different, it’s more or less the same to use.

TOP DATA VAMPIRES

Snapchat. Users are reporting that if you follow a heap of people then all those pictures and videos will burn through your data ridiculously fast. Some users report using up to 60 gigabytes per month

GENERAL TIPS TO SAVE DATA

Set Vampires to wifi only: flick the switch and they won’t use cellular data.

Close apps when you’re not using them. Who knew you could even do this?

Apps that use GPS (such as maps) are major hogs. Make sure they’re off when you’re not using them

Streaming video is a major data suck, as are streaming music services like Spotify and Pandora. Use in wifi or work out how to download songs to listen to offline.