How much data do whatsapp video calls use
How much mobile data does video calling use?
Facetime, Facebook, Whatsapp, and Skype have all revolutionised the way we communicate, whether that is with family and friends or business video conference across the world. We have moved away from costly international telephone calls but are we appreciating the true cost of higher data usage bills instead?
Many people are surprised to discover that the amount of data used on video calling varies depending on which apps are used. Apple’s Facetime is typically found to use the least data but may not always be a viable option as you can only call fellow Apple users.
How much data does Facetime use?
Video calling on Facetime using your mobile data plan will use approximately 130mb to 180mb per hour, depending on your version of iOS. If you keep your iOS updated your data usage will be towards the lower figure, however you should always keep up to date with the latest iOS news as this may change in the future.
It is possible to restrict your ability to make and receive Facetime calls when there is no Wi-Fi connection in order to avoid excess data usage. Go to Settings, then Mobile Data, scroll to Facetime and use the slider to turn mobile data off.
How much data does a Whatsapp video call use?
Whatsapp video calls have been found to use the most data in independent tests, approximately 25mb for a 5 minute video call can be expected. This adds up to 300mb after an hour of video calls – approximately double the amount used by Facetime.
To reduce Whatsapp call data usage go to Settings, Data and Storage Usage and under Call Settings select ‘Low Data Usage’. This may affect your video call quality.
How much data does a Facebook Messenger video call use?
A Facebook Messenger call can be one of the most convenient ways to reach your Facebook contacts. Data usage for an hour of calls is approximately 260mb. Again, it is important to take measures to reduce your data usage during Facebook Messenger calls by making sure that you are on a wifi connection where possible.
How much data does a Skype video call use?
Skype app-to-app video calls use approximately 225mb for an hour of calls, slightly less than Facebook and Whatsapp calls.
If video quality isn’t important for your call you can reduce the amount of data used during video calls by reducing the video call quality in your Skype app settings.
Although data usage for video calls can be small for the short 5-10 minute calls here and there, this can quickly add up if the calls become longer and more regular. Look at the data usage for a video call against your overall data usage limit for the month to work out how many calls you can comfortably conduct over your mobile data, don’t forget to take into account your normal day-to-day data usage.
You can save your mobile data by having as many of your calls as possible via a Wi-Fi connection and ensuring that your apps are all optimised for data-saving.
How can the Apps2Data app help?
If you are a frequent user of video calling apps you may benefit from the Apps2Data service. By monitoring data usage throughout the day you can pinpoint any particular calls which were heavy on data and be aware of this in future.
With an overall picture of your, or your business data usage throughout the month, Apps2Data puts you back in control.
How to reduce data usage on WhatsApp video call?
Whatsapp has now become one of the most popular messaging apps ever to exist. The app has just about every feature you’d expect from a modern-day messaging app, including internet-based voice and video calls.
However, we’re not always connected to Wi=Fi, and as we all know, video calls can be first-degree data hogs. If you’re out and about and low on mobile data, making a video call might make you a bit uncomfortable because it’s highly likely that you’ll run out of data.
Another case is when you’ve already run out of data, and now your internet speeds are slower than a sloth. In such cases, reducing the data usage that Whatsapp video calls put on your connection’s bandwidth can not only help you save data but also might help you have stable video calls when you’re already exhausted your daily data limit.
In this article, we’re going over a few simple steps using which you can drastically reduce just how much data your Whatsapp video calls use.
Also read: WhatsApp vs Signal vs Telegram: Which one is the most secure?
It’s tough to put an accurate number on how much data does a video call exactly use. However, on a 4G network, a Whatsapp video call uses somewhere between 800KB to 1MB of data per minute on average.
After turning the data saver on, you can expect this usage to drop down to around 400-700KB per minute
Also read: How to fix ‘Waiting for this message’ error on WhatsApp?
Note that these steps will also apply to Whatsapp voice calls, meaning you’ll be able to save data on those as well. Open the app on your device and follow the steps mentioned below to reduce data usage during Whatsapp video calls.
- Open Whatsapp and tap on the three vertical dots in the top right.
- Tap on Settings.
- Head over to Storage and data.
- Enable the Use less data for calls slider.
You can also consider turning off mobile data or downloading Whatsapp media only over WiFi to save more data.
Also read: How to use WhatsApp on Samsung Galaxy smartwatches?
Yadullah Abidi
Someone who writes/edits/shoots/hosts all things tech and when he’s not, streams himself racing virtual cars. You can reach out to Yadullah at [email protected], or follow him on Instagram or Twitter.
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How much internet WhatsApp consumes for calls and correspondence.
How much traffic "eats" What'sApp? Author fast12v0_wotsap Read 9 min Views 6.2k. Posted by
Contents
- What is the difference between WhatsApp calls and regular calls
- Data consumption
- How to calculate?
- How much traffic does WhatsApp spend per minute?
- How much data does WhatsApp use when sending messages, photos, videos or audio and video calls?
- How much internet a video call consumes
- How to reduce memory consumption for WhatsApp files?
- Disable autoload
- Save traffic when making calls
- Limit chat backup
- Free traffic of social networks whatsapp viber and there what does it mean
- Which messenger is the most economical?
- What is the best messenger for calls?
How WhatsApp calls are different from regular calls
First, you must understand the basic principle of Whatsapp and how it consumes your internet traffic.
So, how is calling on WhatsApp different from regular calls on the mobile network? The fact is that WhatsApp connects to another subscriber via the Internet, and not through a regular mobile connection. Even if you use a 3G / 4G connection, you still communicate with your interlocutor via the Internet. All messages, photos, etc. are exchanged according to the same principle. This is how all instant messaging services and all applications connected to the Internet work.
Data consumption
Let's find out how much data is spent when the WhatsApp messenger is running in the background. The figure is small, only 1MB per day.
- Highest file transfer load. The lion's share of traffic goes to sending photos, documents and videos. And this is also provided that Watsap compresses all files by default, degrading quality and reducing weight.
- If you look at the sent messages, each character sent is 1.6 bytes. That is, 1MB of traffic is enough to send 655360 characters in correspondence, this is the volume of a continuous novel in printed form.
- Voice messages weigh a little more. It takes about 160 KB to send one message per minute. That is, 1 MB can record voice messages for almost 7 minutes. Audio calls attract even more: 350 KB per minute of conversation. Here video communication is in the lead, one minute of this communication attracts 6.7 MB of traffic.
There are two more sources that consume the Internet. First of all, it is a backup. Using this feature, you can restore conversations and attachments if you need to reinstall the messenger. Using cloud storage wastes traffic, and the costs directly depend on the volume of files and messages.
The second source is the automatic update of the messenger. The size of updates can be very small or up to several tens of megabytes.
How to calculate?
We answer the question of whether traffic is wasted during a video call in WhatsApp - of course! This is a data transmission service over a cellular network: two subscribers communicate via a messenger and exchange information.
You cannot make wireless or mobile calls and not use the specified MB.
It is important for some users to know how much data WhatsApp spends when making a video call. This applies to people using tariffs with a limited amount of traffic. If you have a monthly / daily limit, it's worth figuring out where the required megabytes and gigabytes go so as not to get into an awkward situation. You don't want to be without the Internet!
Unfortunately, there is no built-in function that allows you to view the numbers - how much is spent on video calls within the messenger. But we can use approximate data.
- An hourly video call is approximately 400 megabytes.
- One call per minute takes about 7 megabytes;
Data may vary: we give an average figure, based on which an approximate calculation can be made.
As you can see, the costs are small - you can talk for several tens of minutes and not be afraid that the connected Internet package will end.
Our advice: It's better to chat via video when connected to Wi-Fi, so as not to consume mobile Internet. Here's how to block video calls.
Other numbers for comparison:
- A one-minute voicemail is approximately 140 kilobytes.
- Voice call lasting 1 minute - 344 kilobytes;
- Half-hour audio call - ten megabytes;
When sending photos and videos, you need to focus solely on the media size. And remember, WhatsApp compresses files to save data.
You don't need to think about what speed you need for a video call in WhatsApp - any modern tariff allows you to communicate via video without any problems. The average figure that is enough is 300 Kbps.
How much Internet traffic is spent on video calls in WhatsApp - received. If you have connected a limited tariff, be careful and do not forget to take into account the number of megabytes and gigabytes spent. As a rule, the standard package is enough for users for a long time, but it will not be superfluous to count!
How much traffic does WhatsApp spend per minute?
The amount of megabytes consumed by whatsap depends on the duration. For one minute of conversation, WhatsApp spends about 1.3 MB of traffic. And it's just voice calls. Keep in mind that video calls cost a lot more.
If you have at least a few gigabytes of mobile traffic per month, these calls will be more than profitable for you. If less, consider using conventional mobile communications. Most WhatsApp users communicate only by correspondence, and text messages consume much less traffic than calls. So it won't have much impact on your mobile internet.
Now you know how much traffic WhatsApp uses in a conversation and how it works. It is impossible to say exactly which is more profitable between WhatsApp and mobile communications. Because everyone has different operators and tariff plans. For some this may be helpful, but for others it may not.
But if you do not talk on the phone so often, calling via messenger will be much more convenient and profitable.
How much data does WhatsApp use when sending messages, photos, videos or audio and video calls?
Text messages consume almost no data and with a few MB you can send thousands of messages without any problems. In tests done by ADSLZone, they calculated that it takes 0.732 KB to send a message of ten words, which is a fraction of a MB. To spend one MB of Internet, you need to send or receive more than 10,000 messages
When sending voice messages, the consumption increases, but only slightly. A 60-second voice message is about 138 KB, just over a tenth of a MB. If you are one of those who communicate via long voice messages, you will notice that consumption is growing, although not in a very noticeable way.
WhatsApp applies compression to all photos and videos sent through the app. This will save you a lot of MB in your plan. But you have to remember that if you want to send a photo and not lose the original quality, then it's better to send it the way we wrote in our previous articles (How to send a photo to WhatsApp without losing quality).
For example, a 1.8 MB image is compressed to 187 KB when sent to WhatsApp. The same thing happens with videos: when you send a 43.1 MB video, it is compressed to 4843 MB. Such compression helps us to save mobile Internet traffic, but degrades the quality of sent videos and photos.
The most used traffic on WhatsApp is audio and video calls. For example, a 60-second voice call is 344KB, which seems small, but if it lasts up to half an hour, it can exceed 10MB. For video calls, a 60-second call consumes 6.7 MB of internet traffic, while an hour-long video call uses approximately 400 MB of data. Therefore, it is recommended to connect to a Wi-Fi network during video calls to avoid losing mobile Internet traffic.
How much internet a video call consumes
Approximate traffic consumption per minute of video communication is approximately 2.5 megabytes. This is the most resource-intensive kind of options available in the messenger. It takes a lot of data to process video and audio at the same time.
How to reduce memory consumption for WhatsApp files?
The developers do not provide the ability to transfer the application to the external memory of the device. But at the same time, there are several ways to clear your smartphone of unnecessary media files and other data.
Data transfer can be done in the smartphone settings:
- Select SD card.
- Go to the Applications section.
- Click the Memory tab.
- Open settings".
- Find WhatsApp in the general list.
- Activate the "Move to SD card" button.
- Go back to "Settings".
Using third party software such as ES File Explorer, which can be downloaded and installed for free from the official app store. After downloading, you need to do the following:
- Select a storage location for the "SD card".
- Select WhatsApp from the application list.
- Check and check the boxes for file transfer.
- To access your smartphone's internal memory, swipe left on the home screen.
- Type the "Move" button.
- Install the application.
- Activate the "Move" option.
- Visually search for "Media".
- Select WhatsApp from the list.
- Select a storage location on your device's external memory.
- Navigate to a local folder that you now have access to. To move app data using the FolderMount app for Android:
- Confirm the action by clicking Yes.
- We confirm the root of the right.
- Check the box with the text Exclude from Media Scan.
- Download and install the application.
- Come in and enter the name of the folder.
- Drag and drop WhatsApp from your smartphone's local folder to the Exclude section of the Android FolderMount program.
- In the Destination section of your device's external storage, find the desired folder.
Disabling auto download
Not everyone knows that WhatsApp automatically downloads photos, videos, audios that you view in dialog boxes to the phone's memory.
This not only clogs your smartphone's memory, but also greatly affects the traffic, especially if it is limited.
In a couple of clicks, you can disable downloading files. To do this, go to the menu Settings - Data and storage - Autoload media. The sections "Wi-Fi", "Roaming" and "Mobile Internet" will appear. In each of the paragraphs, you can cancel the download of both individual categories of files, and all completely.
Data saving when making calls
People who use WhatsApp have appreciated the convenience of making calls in this program. Their main advantage is free. But you can also get money if you have limited internet traffic.
To reduce the consumption of mobile Internet, you need to go to Settings - Data and storage - Call settings. There will be an item "Save data". Check the box and WhatsApp is now more responsive to mobile internet consumption.
Restrict chat backups
WhatsApp allows users to back up their chats and other media used in the application.
While backup is important, users are advised to turn off automatic WhatsApp chat backup if possible.
To do this, go to WhatsApp Settings > Chat > Chat Backup > Select "Off" In the "Backup" section.
Free traffic of social networks whatsapp viber and there what it means
There is an option "Messengers +" on different tariffs, which provides free traffic for the following applications:
- Telegram.
- whatsapp.
- Viber.
- La-la.
- Facebook.
But there are a number of restrictions on use:
- If you connect to the Internet through a proxy and VPN, traffic will be counted as usual.
- Traffic will not be consumed only when using the official mobile application (access through the site in the browser is not included in the option).
- The option is available only in some tariff plans.
What is the most economical messenger?
The results of the study showed that Telegram is the cheapest messenger.
His appetites are 35-40% lower than WhatsApp. Pavel Durov's messenger, depending on the load, consumes from 0.42 to 3.75 MB of Internet traffic per 1 hour of use.
What is the best messenger for calls?
According to the set of parameters, we recognize Telegram as the best voice messenger. The application turned out to be the lightest among those presented, consumes an average amount of traffic, offers excellent connection quality and a desktop client for all platforms. The only drawback is the lack of group calls.
How much traffic WhatsApp consumes - how to save
Traffic consumption when using WhatsApp
- Post author: Sergey
- This entry was published on: 04/25/2022
- Post category: FAQ
- Reading time: 2 minutes of reading
- Entry modified: 04/25/2022
Content
- 1 What is the traffic of VOTSAP
- 1.
1 Calches costs - 1.2 How to calculate traffic consumption
- 1.
- 2 Methods for saving costs 9000 formats. Subscribers can talk in real time using the smartphone's camera and microphone, as well as send text and multimedia content to each other. Already in 2016, the messenger became completely free. Service subscribers pay only the Internet service provider. Knowing the approximate traffic consumption, the user can minimize the cost of communication by correctly distributing priorities. This is especially important if the subscriber uses a tariff plan, the rates of which depend on the number of megabytes transferred. How much traffic does WhatsApp consume next.
- Daily traffic consumption while running in the background is 1024 bytes.
- Forwarding a text message of 100 characters will require a corresponding consumption of 160 bytes.
- When you send or receive multimedia files, the Internet costs depend on the amount of content. Materials with a large "weight" are automatically compressed to save traffic. The quality of the processed images is reduced.
- An audio message lasting one minute corresponds to a transfer of 140 kilobytes.
- Chat history backup usually requires a lot of traffic and depends on the amount of multimedia content.
- Upgrading the software version also incurs costs.
- Minimize the forwarding of multimedia attachments.
- Stop calling and switch to text messaging.
- Activate the data saving option in the call settings menu (“Data storage” block).
- Receive media only when using WiFi. You can configure the media download option inside the "Data and storage" block.
- Subscribe to the free social media service from your mobile operator.
- When configuring the option to automatically create chat backups, limit the backup options by specifying "via WiFi". In this case, the data will be sent to the server only when a free WiFi connection is detected.
- Prevent automatic installation of new versions of the application on the gadget.
What Votsap traffic is spent on
Internet usage while the application is running is distributed as follows:
Costs for calls
Communication with a picture requires more internet consumption. A minute of conversation without including an image uses 350 kilobytes, a similar conversation time with a picture is about 6.6 megabytes. One hour of video conversation corresponds to 400 MB transfer.
How to calculate traffic consumption
Mobile devices contain built-in utilities for calculating network connection costs. Access to the option depends on the platform on which the smartphone is running.
Most often, the information is located inside the options menu, in the "Connections" section. The name of the option varies: "Data usage", "Traffic monitoring", "Internet consumption".
Using this option, you can see the consumption of mobile data for a specific application for a selected period, as well as set a limit on data transfer through a specific service. When the limit is exhausted, all types of communication through the messenger will be blocked.
To clarify information about Internet consumption, you can use special utilities. There are programs that allow you to set up notifications about approaching the set limit, as well as regulate data transfer depending on roaming, connection method and other conditions.
Within the WhatsApp application, you can check the statistics related to the traffic used, including highlighting information on specific interlocutors.
The "Network usage" option is located in the "Settings" menu section, inside the "Data storage" block.
Ways to save costs
There are several methods to help you minimize your internet usage when communicating.
Voice messages are not multimedia files. You cannot disable automatic download for this type of messages.
