You can check and monitor your mobile data usage through your carrier or on your device. Going over your mobile data limit can get expensive in a hurry, so knowing how to keep tabs on this is a must. Thankfully, it’s an easy task that you can accomplish in seconds.
We’ll walk you through how to monitor data usage through your carrier, with an iPhone, or with an Android before sharing some quick tips to keep your data usage within your plan’s limits.
Checking Your Mobile Data Usage Through Your Carrier
The most reliable method to check your mobile data usage is through your carrier. You can do this by signing in to your account through your carrier’s website or mobile app. You’ll use your phone number, email address, or username along with a password to sign in before clicking on Usage, Overview, or the equivalent for your carrier.
Your total data, used data, and remaining data will be available in this area of your account details. You’ll also be able to see how long until your usage cycle resets and your data replenishes.
Your carrier’s website and app will also account for data that was used that doesn’t use your monthly allotment. For example, Fido offers five hours of unlimited data that doesn’t eat into your monthly allowance at all. Your device will continue to track this data as if it were a part of your normal monthly total, making carrier tracking the most reliable option. However, you may prefer the convenience the data tracking software on your device offers.
Streaming service data use
Streaming services are notorious for chewing through your data. Watching one hour of Netflix can use between 1GB and 3GB of data, depending on the stream quality. Even apps like YouTube and Spotify can eat up your data if you’re not careful. Whenever possible, pre-download your content on a Wi-Fi connection to enjoy on the go.
Checking Your Data Usage on iPhones and iPads
If you’re looking for a quick answer and don’t have your login information on hand, you can also use your device’s settings menu to check your data usage. To access this on an iPhone:
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Cellular.
- Scroll down until you see Current Period.
The first row will display the total data usage for the current period. The following rows show how much mobile data each app or service used during the current period.
What can cause an issue is that the current period the iPhone displays does not automatically line up with your carrier’s billing cycle. Instead, this page will track your data usage from the moment you start using mobile data until you click Reset Statistics at the bottom of this page. If you haven’t clicked reset in a while, this information won’t be very useful to you.
Checking Your Data Usage on an Android Device
Unlike iPhones, Androids track your mobile data usage on a month-to-month basis. While the settings page will look different between different Android phone brands, you can check your usage by following these steps.
- Open the Settings app.
- Choose Connections or a similar title.
- Tap Data Usage or a similar title.
The default usage cycle will start on the first day of a month, which will only be accurate if your billing cycle also starts on the first day. Thankfully, you can adjust this with another couple of taps. After, your data usage will update to represent your current cycle accurately. To change this:
- Tap Billing Cycle or a similar button. This is usually below the data usage graph or in a drop-down menu.
- Check the shown date and set it to align with your plan’s cycle.
If you don’t know when your usage cycle starts, sign in to your carrier’s website or app using the steps above, or contact your carrier to find out. Get even more out of your handset and learn how to set up voicemail on an Android phone.
Tips to Prevent Exceeding Your Data
General tips for saving data
The easiest way to save data is to turn it off when you’re not using it. Leaving it on at all times so you never miss a message or moment can result in a lot of data consumption for unimportant things. Monitoring data usage is especially important for those using a plan with a low data allotment (less than 5GB of data).
One of the best ways to keep on top of your data usage is to limit the apps allowed to use data. Both iPhones and Androids allow users to turn off mobile data access on an app-by-app basis. Adjusting these permissions can be especially useful if you notice only a couple of apps using most of your mobile data. To do this, go to your data usage screen on your device and then select any apps that you’d like to prevent from accessing mobile data and turn them off.
The apps you open the most are likely your biggest data consumers. To help rein in how much they are using, check their individual settings for things like data saver, resolution, and autoplay Videos. Adjusting these settings can make a big difference for your monthly data usage, particularly on social media apps.
The Google Play Store and Apple App Store can update over Wi-Fi or cellular data. Disabling cellular updates can save significant amounts of data, especially if you have a lot of apps on your device.
Some carriers will give their account holder Data Manager privileges to set usage limits or video resolution defaults from their website or app. Using these options to make standard definition (SD) the default video streaming quality and limiting how much data each line on the account can use will help keep things equitable if you’re on a shared data plan.
Tips for tracking and saving data on iPhones
As mentioned above, you’ll want to keep your Current Period up to date in your Cellular settings so the data tracker can serve as a helpful tool each month. Having an accurate reading on how much data you’re using will allow you to make informed decisions about which apps to use or whether you need to set up limits.
You can also turn off iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup inside the Cellular menu. Disabling these will prevent your iPhone from transferring files and large amounts of information to your iCloud account, often using up your mobile data.
Tips for tracking and saving data on Androids
Android devices allow you to set a maximum data usage allowance directly from your settings. Inside the data usage screen, there will be a menu option or check box for Set Data Limit or something similar. By aligning your data limit, billing cycle, and data allotment, you can almost guarantee you won’t use more than you intend. However, since your phone and carrier may calculate data usage differently, we recommend setting your limit slightly lower than your plan limit to be safe. We also recommend creating a data warning before you reach that limit.
Your Google Account has many services tied to it that can use background data to keep your information up to date. If you open Settings and then tap Accounts, this screen shows all of your active accounts on your device. Select your Google account and then turn sync off for unnecessary services so that you’re not using your data on these. What is necessary will differ from person to person, but we recommend keeping at least Gmail and Maps on.
Upgrading Your Plan to an Unlimited Data Plan
If you find that you’re consistently using your entire data pool, you may want to consider upgrading your plan to an unlimited data plan. These plans have become more accessible in recent years and offer peace of mind to customers. Unlimited plans in Canada still have a full-speed data cap but allow users to continue using mobile data at reduced speeds beyond that limit. Taking a look at your options can’t hurt; regardless of whether you’re looking for an unlimited plan, a cheap plan, or a plan with a new phone, WhistleOut has you covered.
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#1
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Rogers 
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#2
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Freedom Mobile 
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#3
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SaskTel 
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#4
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Bell 
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#5
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Telus 
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