Although telecom companies in Uganda have greatly lowered Internet bundle prices and giving away more data to users to make them stick with their network, there is still need to control data consumption for each app. The instant messaging app, WhatsApp, which recently made the headlines at the F8 Developer conference for getting Messenger like stickers and group video calls takes up a generous level of Internet data. WhatsApp can be a massive data gobbler if you don’t put the settings right.
While plain text chats take only a small fraction of the internet data bundle, a huge chunk of it is taken by images and videos that are shared on the platform. Good news is, WhatsApp included a feature in the app by which users can have upper control on how much data it consumes and on what conditions. You are able to switch off automatic downloads for media content when on cellular data or on Wi-Fi and get only the media that you choose to download.
So here’s how to prevent WhatsApp from using more internet data by turning off the particular feature:
Step 1: Open the app and tap on the three dots or gear icon to access the Settings page.
Step 2: In the Settings page, tap on ‘Data and storage usage’.
Step 3: Under the ‘Media auto-download’ tap on ‘When using mobile data’ option.
Step 4: In the dialogue box tap on the media type you want WhatsApp to auto download when using cellular data.
Step 5: Repeat the same step with ‘When connected on Wi-Fi’ and ‘When roaming’ options.
Step 6: Under the ‘Call Settings’ segment you can turn on ‘Low data usage’ option. This will lower the amount of data used during a WhatsApp call.
Apart from Voice messages, you can control auto-downloads of all the other type of media that is shared on WhatsApp. According to WhatsApp, Voice messages are always automatically downloaded for the best communication experience.
