Here’s a rough guide to give you an idea of how much data you’ll need:
How much mobile data do apps and emails use?
In this article
Things like normal browsing and email only use a small amount of data, others such as watching catch-up TV or videos on YouTube can use significantly more.
| Activity | Data consumption (estimated) |
| Web browsing | 1 – 4MB per minute |
| Uploading Photos | 1.5MB per photo (depending on quality of image) |
| 1 – 2MB per minute | |
| Maps navigation | 100-200KB per minute |
| Gaming | 1.5MB upwards per minute |
| Music Streaming | 1-2MB per minute (standard sound quality) |
| Podcast Streaming | 60 – 100MB per hour |
| Skype/Video Call | 90MB – 1.4GB per hour (depending on quality) |
| YouTube/Video Streaming | 2 – 3MB per minute |
| YouTube/Video Streaming HD | 4 – 6MB per minute |
| 1MB = 1024KB 1GB = 1024MB |
Hints and tips
Do software or firmware updates while connected to Wi-Fi.
Download and update apps when you're connected to Wi-Fi.
Make sure you close apps properly on your device, so they don't use data in the background.
You can change the settings on some apps so they can only be used when connected to Wi-Fi.
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