Smartphone users are burning through more data than ever. According to a new study by TRG Datacenters, the average mobile user now consumes over 11GB of data each month. This represents a 40% jump compared to two years ago. So, which of your favorite Android mobile apps are the most data-hungry? The study looked at the top 30 most popular apps on iOS and Android, then ranked them based on average hours used per month, active data use, and background data usage.Â
The most data-hungry mobile apps
Unsurprisingly, video-heavy mobile apps dominate the top of the list as the most data-hungry.
Sitting in first place is YouTube, using an eye-watering 69.4K MB per month. That includes 2.3K MB per hour in active use. It also consumes a huge amount of background data as well. On average, people spend about 30 hours a month watching videos on the app.
Second is Twitch, with 30K MB per month. Users spend the same 30 hours in-app as they do with YouTube. However, Twitch eats up a bit less data per hour. Still, background activity accounts for a huge chunk of its data footprint.
Snapchat comes in third, pulling 27.4K MB per month. Users spend around 22.5 hours in the app, and it consumes more data per hour than Twitch, thanks to its constant camera and image processing features.
Next up are TikTok (22.8K MB) and Threads (22.1K MB), both of which log around 22.5 hours of use per month. Threads actually uses slightly more active data than TikTok, which is surprising, but lower background usage keeps it in fifth place. Rounding out the top 10 are Netflix (19K MB), Instagram (18.7K MB), Facebook (17.8K MB), Telegram (12.6K MB), and Pinterest (10.2K MB).
What does this mean for users?
Suffice to say, with all this mobile data being consumed, you should get an unlimited data plan if you plan to watch a lot of videos on the go. It’s expected that apps these days use more than before. As our phones get more capable, it can display content at higher resolutions. We’re talking about higher resolution photos and videos, all of which will eat more data than back in the day.
What’s also interesting is that in an earlier study, which looked at how much data (information on the user) is gathered, Facebook tops the list. That’s not surprising, but it’s interesting considering that Facebook ranks relatively low on the scale of mobile data consumption. It’s a bit scary to think that while it eats up so little of your mobile data, it gathers the most information about you.
The post These Are the Most Data-Hungry Mobile Apps, Led by YouTube appeared first on Android Headlines.
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