How To Save Cellular Data On Your iPhone

It's time to end your despair. Take charge in controlling how your mobile device eats up data connection and never go beyond the allotment ever again.

Hurray! You've finally purchased an eConnect prepaid SIM card for your Japan trip's Internet needs. To get the most out of your Internet connection, it is best to protect yourself from unnecessary data consumption.Safeguard yourself from exceeding the cap by taking advantage of these tried-and-tested tips.

Photo by Dennis Cortés / Unsplash

1. Before going on a walk or a tour, always check the mobile data settings. See to it that it is disabled when internet connection is not necessary or you will risk wasting your data without you even knowing it. If you are not conscious about this, your apps and the operation system (OS) will use the mobile network even though they are just running in the background. You'll definitely end up regretting why you didn't disable this feature off in the first place.

2. If your iPhone is running on iOS 9 or iOS 10, it is highly recommended for you to turn off WiFi Assist. This feature automatically uses your data whenever you are connected to a poor network. It even shows how much gigabytes you have used up in place of the typical Internet connection.
   To disable, go to your phone's Settings and then to Mobile Data; scroll down a little bit and you'll find where you can switch off WiFi Assist.

3. Prevent your apps from using mobile data. As mentioned earlier, even if they are running in the background, they utilize your SIM's precious data. Go to your iPhone's Settings. Under Mobile Data you can toggle the switch to the left for apps that you don't want connected to your mobile network. Take note of data-hungry apps like FaceTime, iTunes and iCloud Drive as these should be switched off for mobile data.
   
   Make sure your phone's email fetching capability is switched off too. Arrange this by going to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and check if it is disabled.
   
   On top of that, disable Auto-Downloads and Updates as well as Background App Refresh. These activities update your phone's OS and your apps without you having to manually command it to. As these acts are Internet-intensive, have them set only to run under a stable WiFi connection.
   
   Accesss the Background App Refresh through Settings > General and the Auto-Downloads and Updates through the App Store or iTunes Store.

4. Disable cloud syncing when using mobile data. Whenever you take pictures, those are synced to your cloud automatically if auto sync is enabled. If you do not want to waste your mobile data on this, ensure that this feature is disabled.

5. Save your data for more important Web activities by turning off the location services unless needed. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and move the toggle to the left.

6. Do not run your mobile data all day long. When not in use or if you are busy touring the beautiful spots in Japan, turn your data off in order to protect yourself from unnecessary data usage.

For mobile-data saving tips for Android users, watch out for our next blog post.