You can reduce your mobile data
usage without doing anything
differently on your Android
device. Just install and enable an
app that functions as a
compressing proxy. An
intermediary will sit between you
and the Internet, squishing your
data down so it uses as little
space as possible before
travelling over your cellular
carrier’s mobile data network.
How it Works
These solutions all work by
routing your data through a
third-party server. For example,
let’s say you’re browsing to
makeuseof.com in your web
browser. You’ll normally connect
directly to our web servers and
they’d send you the data that
makes up our front page.
However, when you use one of
these compressing proxies, you’d
connect to the third-party server
instead. That server would
connect to makeuseof.com for
you, download the data,
compress it to make it smaller,
and then send it to you.
Some of these solutions also
work in other apps and for more
than just web pages. Whenever
an app connects to a server and
downloads data, the traffic will
be routed through a third-party
server that compresses the data
for you. This saves on data
where it really counts — the “last
mile” between your phone and
your cellular carrier, who
probably doesn’t provide you
with unlimited data. None of
these services do anything to
encrypted traffic, so your online
banking and encrypted email
connection will be private — but
you won’t get the benefit of
compression for those
connections, either.
There’s a bit of a downside here.
Things may take a bit longer to
download — the data doesn’t
come directly to you, but takes a
roundabout route through a
third-party server that has to
compress it first. However, if you
have a slow cellular data
connection, it may actually be
faster to download the
compressed data!
Opera Max
Opera Max encrypts data for all
apps on your device when you’re
connected to a mobile data
network. Install the app and it
will take over, routing all apps’
traffic through Opera’s servers so
it can be compressed to save
your data allowance. Unlike other
services that do this, Opera Max
can also compress videos in
addition to photos, web pages,
and other types of data. This
application also provides you
with an overview of the apps
using data and allows you to
block them from using that
precious data.
This service is free, and is the
best solution for compressing
your Android phone’s data
usage. To “recharge” Opera Max,
you’re asked to occasionally
watch an advertisement — that’s
the price of a free service.
opera max save android data 4
Ways To Reduce Your Mobile
Internet Data Usage With
Android Apps
Onavo Extend
Onavo Extend is another mobile
data-compressing solution that
works with all the apps on your
phone. It’s been around for
longer than Opera Max, but it’s
now been superseded. Unlike
Opera Max, Onavo Extend doesn’t
compress videos. Unless you
never watch videos on your
mobile data conneciton, you’ll
likely save more data with Opera
Max.
You’ve probably never heard of
Onavo, but you have heard of
their parent company —
Facebook. Facebook bought
Onavo in 2013.
onavo extend compress android
data 4 Ways To Reduce Your
Mobile Internet Data Usage With
Android Apps
Chrome‘s Reduce Data Usage
Feature
Google has their own data
compression solution.
Unfortunately, it’s not a system-
wide solution that works for all
Android apps at the moment.
Instead, it’s a feature built into
the Google Chrome app itself.
This feature only works in
Chrome, so you’ll only get the
benefits of data compression
when browsing with Chrome.
If you’d just like to use less
mobile data when browsing the
web and you don’t want a
system-wide solution, Chrome is
a fine alternative. Open the
Chrome app on your device, tap
the menu button, and tap
Settings. Navigate to Bandwidth
management > Reduce data
usage and enable the Reduce
data usage feature.
chrome reduce data usage 4
Ways To Reduce Your Mobile
Internet Data Usage With
Android Apps
Opera‘s Off-Road Mode / Opera
Mini
Both the full Opera browser and
Opera Mini apps also have this
feature. This is what came before
Opera Max. If you don’t care
about compressing everything
system-wide, you can always just
use an Opera browser. It works
similarly to Chrome, compressing
data only when browsing the
web only with Opera. The Opera
browser for Windows, Mac, and
Linux also includes Off-Road
Mode, so you can compress the
data when browsing on your
computer, too. This could help
you save on data when tethering.
To enable this feature in Opera,
tap the O button and enable the
Off-Road mode toggle. This
feature is always used in Opera
Mini, which is a more lightweight
web browser for slower devices.
To view your data saved in Opera
Mini, tap the menu button and
navigate to Help > Data Usage.
opera off road mode 4 Ways To
Reduce Your Mobile Internet Data
Usage With Android Apps
Android’s Data Usage screen can
also help you track and reduce
your mobile data usage. Open
the Settings app and tap Data
Usage to access it. From here,
you can see reports about how
much data each app used, see
how much data your device used
in a time period, and restrict
specific apps from using
background data. You can also
disable mobile data entirely from
here.
Which of these is your favorite
data compression solution? Any
other tips for reducing data
usage on Android? Let us know
in the comments.
