Maximizing your mobile data budget for Detty December

Detty December is near, and trust me, it's going to be amazing. But it's time to start saving up and getting ready for that long-distance family feast you've been expecting. And at the same time, you also need to maximize your mobile data budget so that you can have enough to save up before Christmas comes in fully.

We all know that Detty December gives room for individuals to stay more on their phones, roaming the internet up and down, back and forth, but regardless of that, there's always a way to maximise your data usage without spending beyond your projected budget.

But the good news is that this article explains three (3) easy-to-follow tips to help you conserve data while saving money for the Detty December family feast. Here are the 3 methods to maximise your mobile data budget for Detty December.

1. Disable Data for Apps that Roam in the Background

If you're underestimating the amount of data your apps—especially social media apps like Snapchat, Facebook, X, TikTok, and Instagram—consume in the background, you will know that it's high time you start maximizing their usage for data. Most of the time, these apps use data to keep updates in the notifications. Trust me, these consume data more than you can imagine.

To maximize your data in this aspect, you'll need to turn off background data usage for your apps. The process is different depending on the device you're using. For Android phones, navigate to "Data Usage" under "Settings" and tap the app you’d like to restrict and disable background data. You'll also see the list of apps that are consuming data the most on the "Data Usage" page.

For iOS devices like iPhone and iPad, you'll need to navigate to "Settings" >> "General" >> "Background App Refresh" to turn off background data. From here, you can turn off background data usage for each app or place the apps' data usage on "WiFi-Only."

2. Disable Auto-Download and Auto-Play Videos

Social media platforms always auto-play videos on your feed, and likewise, messaging apps always auto-download media files. These usually consume so much data that you can never imagine. Most especially on WhatsApp—when a 2GB media file is sent to you, the messaging app will auto-download it for you so that it can be easily played whenever you want to play it. This is good, but its data consumption can really be costly.

However, you can simply adjust these features so that your data will not consume so fast. On Facebook, you'll need to disable the "Auto-Play" feature, which can be found under Menu >> Settings & Privacy >> Settings >> Preferences >> Media >> Find the Autoplay option. You can do this on the Facebook app or via the web version.

You can turn off WhatsApp's Auto-Download under Settings >> Storage and Data >> Media Auto-Download. From here, you have different data management options to choose from. Once you choose your preferred option, tap OK. On X, you'll need to choose "Never" under "Auto-Play" to stop auto-playing videos on the platform.

3. Enable Data Saver Mode

Enabling "Data Saver" mode on your phone activates all built-in data management tools that are featured in your smartphone, including background data usage turned off and more. In addition to that, Data Saver mode turns off auto-playing when you're using cellular data to browse the internet. You can simply turn on Data Saver mode by swiping down your notification bar and tapping on the Data Saver icon.