If you use mobile data on your smartphone then you’re probably all-too-aware of data caps.
These “caps” often max out at a measly 512MB. And despite telecoms giants trying to tell you otherwise, it’s often not quite enough.
Staying within your data allowance is an important thing. Visit one-too-many websites and you could end up with one of those shock bills you often hear about!
One of the easiest ways to reduce the amount of data you use when browsing the web on your phone is to switch to the beta version of Google Chrome for Android and enable it’s data reduction feature.
Once enable this can reduce data usage by up to 50% in some cases. If you make heavy use of the web on your Android device – and for this to work is has to be inside Chrome – then it’s a feature definitely worth enabling.
Enable Bandwidth Saving on Google Chrome Beta for Android
At present the Bandwidth Management feature for Chrome is only available in the Beta builds. This can be installed alongside the stable release of Chrome for Android, but you won’t find it by searching in the market. You need to go there direct.
Remember that Chrome for Beta is what it says on the tin: a beta. Whilst it won’t hose your phone, it may have a few bugs on show.
Once the beta build of the browser has successfully installed on your mobile or tablet you need to launch it, open the Chrome menu (tap the three vertical dots in the upper-right) and select ‘Settings‘. From there tap the “Bandwidth Management” option listed under ‘Advanced’.
You’ll see a screen like this:
Slide the switch from ‘Off’ to ‘On’.
That’s it – you’re all set to save data!
As you browse from this point on Google will optimise, trim and ensure pages get to you using less data than they would otherwise. After browsing for a while you can check in to see how much data you’ve saved:
If you get any particularly impressive savings be sure to share them with us in the comments below.