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How Much Data Do I Need?
Streaming uses a lot of data, but your specific needs may not require an unlimited plan.
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Kelsey Sheehy is a senior writer and NerdWallet authority on small business. She started at NerdWallet in 2015 and spent six years as a personal finance writer and spokesperson before switching gears to cover the financial decisions and challenges faced by small-business owners. Kelsey’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Nasdaq and MarketWatch, among other publications. Kelsey has appeared on the "Today" show, NBC News and ABC’s "World News Tonight" and has been quoted by the Los Angeles Times, CNBC, American Banker, NPR and Vice, among other publications. Prior to joining NerdWallet, Kelsey covered college (and how to pay for it) for U.S. News & World Report. She is based in Washington, D.C.
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Tommy Tindall is a lead writer and content strategist covering how to make money — and how to keep it. He’s recorded and written about his experience testing popular gig jobs like driving for Uber, delivering with DoorDash and full-service shopping for Instacart. He loves making an extra buck, but laments the hours of awkward silence he endured as an Uber driver (never again).
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Before NerdWallet, Tommy held decidedly more boring jobs at Fannie Mae and Booz Allen Hamilton. Today, he feels super privileged to write for you, the consumer.
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The average smartphone owner used 19 gigabytes of data per month in 2024, according to a study by communication technology company Ericsson.
But you may not need that much. Stick with surfing the net over Wi-Fi whenever possible and a reasonably priced 5GB plan may be just fine.
How to check your current data usage
You can view how much data you use by looking in the settings of your phone. Most phones track overall data usage. They also break it down by app, so you can see how many of your precious gigabytes are being drained by Spotify or YouTube.
Find data usage settings on your iPhone or Android
To view how much data you’re going through, dive into settings. Find the "cellular" or "network/internet" section, and look at overall data usage and data by the app.
On an iPhone, the "current period" of data usage doesn’t correspond with your most recent billing cycle. You’ll have to reset it to zero and start from a specific date to get an accurate picture of how many gigabytes you use in a month.
Similarly, an Android allows you to manually pick a time period to monitor.
How much data streaming uses
Video and music streaming apps are data guzzlers. But it’s hard to tell how much you’re using in the moment. We break it down by the quality tiers of a few familiar apps.
App
Data usage by streaming quality
Spotify
Data quality tiers:
Low: Listen to roughly 95 hours of music for 1GB.
Normal: Listen to roughly 24 hours of music for 1GB.
High: Listen to roughly 14 hours of music for 1GB.
Very high: Listen to roughly 7 hours of music for 1GB.
YouTube
Estimates for common YouTube resolutions viewed on mobile:*
SD (480p): Watch about 2 hours of video for 1GB.
HD (720p): Watch about 40 minutes of video for 1GB.
Full HD (1080p): Watch about 20 minutes of video for 1GB.
*Based on estimates from travel eSIM retailer GigSky.
Netflix
Settings that balance data usage:
Automatic: Watch about 4 hours of video for 1GB.
Save data: Watch about 6 hours of video for 1GB.
Maximum data: Watch 20 minutes of video for 1GB (or more).
How to cut back on the data you use
Now that you know what you use, you can reduce data by surfing at home and taking time off demanding apps.
Use Wi-Fi when possible
You can save the mobile entertainment for home (or the local coffee shop). When you connect to Wi-Fi, you stop using cellular data. That means you can stream, download and upload content without cutting into your data allotment.
A slick move is to download your favorite albums or playlists within your music streaming app while on the home Wi-Fi, then take the grooves on the road in offline mode.
Nerdy Perspective
I buy a data plan with 10GB per month from a popular prepaid cell phone service provider, and never go over my allotment. I work from home, so I scroll the socials on Wi-Fi mostly, but stream music and podcasts over cellular during my 40 or so minutes of driving every day. No issues with overages here.
Tommy Tindall
Adjust phone settings to keep you in check
Once you know how much data you use, you can cut yourself off or let your device do the work. From your phone’s settings menu, you can turn off certain apps so they don't use cellular data, or you can toggle on data-saving options within the settings menus of common video and music apps.
You'll also want to check the settings on your social media apps, which have become increasingly dominated by video content. A never-ending stream of video reels can make an hour fly by — all the more reason to stop autoplay if the app allows you to turn it off. If not, you might want to watch the clock while you swipe through reels.
Scrolling through Instagram, which has become Reels-heavy, uses about 1 to 2GB of data per hour, according to Eskimo eSIM, a travel eSIM card seller.
See the full picture: savings, debt, investments and more. Smarter money moves start in our app.
When to revisit your data plan
After you've made adjustments — to your apps' behavior and your own — you can determine how many gigabytes you actually need. A good rule is to wait a month or two for your usage to reflect your new habits. Then, check your bill or your phone's data usage meter. If your usage is well under your current plan’s limits, it might be time to switch plans — or even providers.
If you can’t get your gigs down, going unlimited might be unavoidable. There are lots of cheap cell phone plans to choose from.
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