How much data does instagram use per hour
How Much Data Does Instagram Use?
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Worried about Instagram using up all your data?
By Martyn Casserly
Contributor, Tech Advisor
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Instagram can be an addictive app.
Gone are the days when it was just a repository for still images of people’s dinners and summer holidays. Now, there are live streams, stories and other features that can soon eat through your data plan if you’re not careful.
But how much data does Instagram actually use? We don our white lab coats and run some experiments.
How much data does Instagram claim to use?
There are no official figures available directly from Instagram, so we don’t know what to expect when it comes to data usage through the app.
But how much data does a normal feed use on Instagram use?
To test this out we downloaded a data usage monitoring app and set it to zero. Then, with a timer set for five minutes, we browsed our Instagram timeline, trying to focus mainly on still images. This, of course, is next to impossible now that videos are all over the app, so the results we obtained are a mixture of video and stills, which is a better real-world test case anyway.
When the timer finished, the amount of data that had been consumed by Instagram after 5 minutes was around 50MB. Extrapolating from this figure, we deduced the follow usage figures (when mainly viewing still images):
- 15 minutes = 150MB
- 30 minutes = 300MB
- 45 minutes = 450MB
- 1 hour = 600MB
So, if you spend an hour a day on Instagram, you’ll have used up 4.2GB of data (600 x 7) by the end of the week. Do that across a month and you’ll rack up around 16GB.
How much data does uploading photos and videos to Instagram use?
Obviously, most people don’t just consume content on Instagram but also upload their own. This can be a bit more difficult to accurately estimate (as we have different cameras, file sizes and quality), but it as a rule of thumb uploading a photo will use around 2MB of data.
It’s more for video, with around 8MB for a quick story. It’s safe to say then that if you’re uploading videos all the time, you’ll soon start to edge towards the limits of your data plan, especially if you’re also an avid scroller through the Instagram feed.
How to lower your use of data on Instagram
If you want to lower the amount of data Instagram uses, there are some settings you can adjust to achieve this.
First, Instagram pre-loads videos in your feed to ensure that everything works quickly. You can prevent this from happening so that the data consumed is less. The trade-off is that videos will take longer to load when you’re on a mobile connection.
Here’s how to adjust the settings in the Instagram app:
- Tap on your Profile picture in the bottom right corner of the screen
- Tap the three horizontal lines in the top right of the screen
- Select Settings
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- Next, tap Account followed by Data Usage (iPhone) or Mobile data use (Android)
- From the menu, choose Use less mobile data (iPhone) or data saver (Android)
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If you’re an Android user, then you also have the option of limiting when Instagram serves high-resolution content.
This means you can have lower-res stuff when on your mobile connection, then full resolution when you get back to a Wi-Fi connection.
To use this feature, tap the High-Resolution media option that’s under Data Saver. Then select from Never, Wi-Fi only, or Mobile + Wi-Fi.
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You can always adjust these setting again later if your circumstances change.
If you’re thinking of changing your contract so that you get more data, be sure to read our roundups of the best phone network and best pay-as-you-go phone network to make sure you get the best deal.
Author: Martyn Casserly, Contributor
Martyn has been involved with tech ever since the arrival of his ZX Spectrum back in the early 80s. He covers iOS, Android, Windows and macOS, writing tutorials, buying guides and reviews for Macworld and its sister site Tech Advisor.
How much mobile data does Instagram use?
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Published on 10/08/2022 in Tips & tricks from…
Social media appear to be a major data consumer.
Mobile data usage is on the up and up. For a start, you're increasingly using our network to surf the Internet on the go. In addition, you're all using more and more data.
Consuming more than one gigabyte of data per person every month is no longer exceptional. But do you know on what exactly all that mobile data is used?
Well, it seems that the social media are a major consumer. According to recent estimates, browsing through Instagram for an hour could for instance use up 100 MB of mobile data. That doesn't seem like a lot, but if you do this every day you soon reach 3 GB per month. In comparison, streaming music requires only half the amount of mobile data. So you better make sure you have a decent Mobile Internet bundle.
I dug a little deeper to find out what exactly makes that data usage on Instagram increase so much.
Viewing and sharing not just photos but videos tooViewing those nice photos on Instagram also takes a little chunk out of your data bundle each time. Expect about one megabyte for 40 or so images. And you reach that quickly given that on Instagram you can follow not just family and friends, but also famous people and your favourite brands.
Incidentally, uploading photos uses quite a lot more data. You should expect to use about 2 to 4 MB for every photo you post on Instagram. And since the quality is constantly improving, the quantity of mobile data you need for this in the future will only increase.
But for a long time now, photos have by no means been the only things in the app. There's also Instagram Video, which shows video clips from 3 to 60 seconds in length. And what do you think about the recent launch of Instagram Stories, a Snapchat equivalent which allows you to share photos and videos in the form of stories with your followers. All told, this provides more options in the app, but it also means that you will place greater demands on your mobile Internet.
And then there are also other social media on which you can probably be found regularly. Did you know that Facebook also gobbles up a fair amount of your smartphone data?
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What are the limits on Instagram and why stick to them? In this article, we will look at the limits on Instagram, find out what criteria to follow and for what actions an account can be blocked.
- Why stick to limits on Instagram
- Violation of what limits leads to blocking
- Other limits on Instagram
- Conclusion
Why stick to limits on Instagram
Instagram limits apply to any kind of content: the number of likes, comments, subscriptions, messages, and the like. The site algorithm checks the user's actions and blocks suspicious activity in the profile, and also warns against using "gray" promotion methods.
Note . You can read about the Community Guidelines in the Meta Help and the Instagram Guide.
The site has a negative attitude towards:
- Cheats and automatic actions.
- Attempts to manipulate and bypass algorithms.
- Intrusive advertising in private messages and comments.
- Spam.
Consequences of violation of limits
For one violation you will receive a warning, which can be viewed in the "Notifications" tab. If the moderators notice a large number of identical actions in the account, you will receive a warning, followed by blocking or deleting the profile. Particularly strict requirements apply to new accounts that have been in existence for less than six months.
- Shadowban . The site limits the display of posts, Reels and stories - they do not fall into recommendations and cannot be found by hashtags. If you notice a sharp drop in reach within a few days, this is a sign of a shadowban.
- Temporary lock . The algorithm limits your actions and does not allow you to like, subscribe to users or leave comments.
This blocking lasts up to three days. - Temporary deletion of account . In this case, you do not lose access to the profile, and when you try to log in, a notification appears that the account has been blocked for violating the rules. Access can be restored, but technical support takes a long time to respond, which means it will take time.
- Permanent ban . Instagram will delete the page without the possibility of recovery.
Recommended reading! Learn how to unblock Instagram.
You may also receive a warning for content that does not comply with platform standards. Because of him, account holders fall under the shadowban. To find out the status of your account, go from your profile to the menu and go to the "Settings" section.
Account settingsThen go to the "Account" tab.
"Account" tabAnd check "Account Status".
Account Status tab Here you can check the list of violations, see recommendations and options on how to get deleted posts back.
Convert Instagram followers into regular customers
Create a chatbot, automate communication with customers and improve sales in Instagram Direct.
Violation of what limits leads to blocking
Let's consider violations for which some functions can be limited or even blocked forever.
Limit of likes on Instagram
To increase the reach and attract users' attention to the profile, account holders put likes.
| Account age from 3 months | Account age from 6 months | Account is over a year old | |
| Daily | 300 likes | 500 | 900 |
| per hour | 12 likes | 20 | 50 |
| Minimum break | 1-2 minutes | ||
Message limit on Instagram
The site monitors the observance of the personal space of users - mass mailing to strangers who did not consent to correspondence is perceived negatively.
Community members can file a complaint and your account will be blocked. Therefore, keep track of the number of messages sent to Direct.
| Account age from 3 months | Account age from 6 months | Account age over a year | |
| Daily | 20 messages | 35 | 50 |
| per hour | 3-5 messages | 10 | 15 |
| Minimum break | 10 minutes | ||
Instagram comment limit
Accounts are often blocked due to comments - make sure that they are different and contain text, not just emoji.
Identical comments are treated as spam. This is followed by a warning, and if the action is repeated, the account is blocked.
| Account age from 3 months | Account age from 6 months | Account age over a year | |
| Per day | Not recommended to use in order not to get banned | 140 comments | 200-250 |
| per hour | Not recommended to use in order not to get banned | 7 comments | 8 |
| Minimum break | - | 4-5 minutes | |
Instagram follow limit
The algorithm takes into account the total number of followers and unfollows per day. Therefore, if you have subscribed to a large number of users, it is better to postpone the unsubscribe to the next day so as not to get banned.
| Account age from 3 months | Account age from 6 months | Account age over a year | |
| Daily | 100 subscriptions | 300 | 500 |
| per hour | 20 subscriptions | 30 | 40 |
| Minimum break | 8 minutes | 5 minutes | 30 seconds to 1 minute |
Limits on unsubscribing
You can start unsubscribing from 300 non-reciprocal and 200 mutual subscriptions per day, gradually increasing this number.
But do not forget about the total amount of subscriptions and unsubscriptions per month - otherwise the account will be blocked.
| Account age from 3 months | Account age from 6 months | Account age over a year | |
| Daily | 500 unsubscribes | 1400 | 2000 |
| per hour | 20 unsubscribes | 50 | 80 |
| Minimum break | 2 to 5 minutes | ||
Other limits on Instagram
Let's look at other limits that do not lead to blocking, but limit the number of posts - for example, stories or hashtags.
Stories
Up to 100 stories can be added per day. If you upload another one, the very first story will be automatically deleted and the total number will be one hundred.
Mentions
Up to three users per hour can be mentioned in comments, and up to 20 per day for new accounts.
For profiles that have existed for more than six months, up to 50 users can be mentioned per day.
Number of characters under the post
Up to 2200 characters can be added to the post. If this is not enough for you, you can overlay text on the image and add it to the carousel, as in the screencast below.
Carousel text exampleAdding photos and posts
Up to 10 images can be added to a post. Up to 20 publications can be published per day with an interval of 5-10 minutes, but practice shows that it is enough to upload 1-2 posts per day, and send the rest of the content to stories. This way you won't bore your audience.
Hashtags
Up to 30 tags with target and near-target keys can be added to a post. And for Reels, it is recommended to prescribe no more than 5 hashtags. You can also use tags in stories - geolocation, brand or thematic query.
Use spaces or periods in the text to separate tags.
An example of delimiting tags in the text for publicationAccount blocking
Brands and bloggers constantly use account blocking: fakes, spam, trolls, competitors, and the like.
At the same time, mass blocking is perceived negatively by the platform - so do not rush to take such measures so as not to receive a warning. It’s better to try to calm the person down or pause between blocks so as not to attract undue attention from the moderators.
Recommended reading! Learn more about Instagram:
- “How to write a post-acquaintance on Instagram”;
- "How to make a mask on Instagram";
- "How to create, promote and maintain an Instagram store";
- "How to create a high-quality visual on Instagram";
- "How to sell on Instagram";
- "How to use Instagram Guides for organic promotion";
- "Earnings on Instagram - TOP-18 ways to get real money";
- "How to make stories on Instagram from your phone and computer";
- "How to add a photo to Instagram from a computer";
- “How to create a content plan for Instagram.
Rules, tips, examples”; - "Instagram design: how to make your profile attractive to the audience."
Conclusion
In this article, we looked at the new Instagram limits that are updated every year. You can learn about changes only by trial and error - the site does not talk about the operation of the algorithm and how it reacts to mass actions.
If you are banned, follow these precautions:
- Do nothing on your account and try checking your profile the next day.
- File an appeal with technical support and ask for options to resolve the problem.
- After you exit the ban, reduce the number of actions. For some time, moderators will closely monitor the account and can delete it at any time.
- Stop using automated services that help you publish content.
You can automate the process of communication with users using the chatbot on Instagram, which will send mailings to those who have agreed to the correspondence.
The SendPulse bot allows you to set up answers to frequently asked questions, create any chains, send data to CRM, place orders and notify customers about delivery.
SendPulse Chat Bot BuilderAnd also connect our other tools for comprehensive promotion: create multilinks using the landing page builder, send email, Viber, SMS and push notifications, set up chat bots in instant messengers and social networks — Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Telegram!
Finding the best time to post on Instagram
Let's admit it right away: it's more correct to formulate this question, is there even a better time to post on Instagram?
With the advent of algorithmic feeds, the essence of feed generation has changed and the time of content publication has ceased to significantly affect coverage. Still, bloggers and businesses are trying to find a relationship between the time of the release of the publication and the engagement rate.
Surely you yourself have noticed that posts published at a certain time get the best response.
When generating a smart feed, Instagram algorithms take into account the relevance of the post: how long ago it was published. New posts are more likely to appear higher in the followers feed.
So the best time to post on Instagram is close to when your audience is online to increase the novelty factor.
What is the best time to post on Instagram?
There are many myths about the right time to post. The recommendations are similar: morning (10 a.m.) and evening (6-8 p.m.) on weekdays are called the best. Sometimes they mention the inefficiency of publishing on weekends - which could have been relevant before the development of the mobile Internet. Now users stay online at any time.
Let's try to identify a general recommendation when it is better to post photos on Instagram, as well as the features of choosing the right time to post based on research.
The Popsters team conducted such a study in 2018, based on data from 460 million publications in 7 social networks, created by 580 thousand different public pages and groups.
When analyzing time and date, the average activity of a publication was estimated depending on the time of its publication.
Day of the week to post to Instagram
Publications made on Sunday received the most engagement. Monday was the next most active. Users were most active on posts made on Saturday.
On the other days of the week, the activity remained the same.
Instagram post time
The study confirmed the theory of an increase in activity in the morning and at the end of the working day. Users were most active at 10-11 a.m. and at 7 p.m.-20 pm. A slight increase in activity is also observed at 12 noon. This should be taken into account when choosing the best time to post on Instagram.
Posts made at night (from midnight to 6 am) get fewer reactions. The worst time to post is 5 am.
Study Hootsuit
The Hootsuit team partnered with Unmetric to conduct an Instagram engagement survey that analyzed 258,956 posts from the top 20 North American accounts across 11 industries.
The results are not as relevant for companies operating in Russia as the study of local market accounts, but they are also useful for studying, since in general they can give an idea of when it is better to post photos on Instagram in other regions.
Research shows what time is best for posting in accounts in different areas.
Travel and Tourism: Friday, 9 am to 1 pm.
Also lucky days are Tuesday and Monday.
Media and Entertainment: Tuesday and Thursday, 12 noon to 3 pm.
Food and drink: Friday at 12 noon.
Retail: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 12 noon.
Worst time to post: 11 am to 1 pm.
Services and services: Friday, Tuesday, Wednesday at 9 or 10 am.
Non-Profit Organizations: Tuesday, 4 pm or 10 am.
E-commerce (except retail): Thursday 9pm or 4pm.
Medicine and pharmacology: Wednesday and Saturday, 9 am.
Cosmetics: Friday and Thursday at 1, 2 or 3 p.m.
Technology: Monday and Tuesday at 2 pm.
Education: Thursday, 4 pm or 5 pm.
How to determine the best time to publish?
Data from the study gives a general idea of the impact of posting time on activity. They are relevant for many pages, but the situation may differ for some accounts.
To determine the best time to post on Instagram in your account, analyze the results for older posts.
Method 1: Popsters
To do this, go to the Popsters.ru service, enter the account address in the search bar and set the required time interval for analysis. To draw the right conclusions, you need as much data as possible, so choose a period of three months or more.
Make sure that it does not include irrelevant data: for example, activity during the New Year and May holidays, periods of large contests. They will distort the results of the analysis.
Click "Download" and find "Days of the Week" and "Time of Day" graphs:
Here you will find data on the effectiveness of posts made in your account or someone else's.
Method 2: Instagram statistics analysis
Use the built-in Instagram account analytics. It is available to business accounts: if your account type is "personal", you will not see this data. You can connect a business account in the settings. You will need to link your Facebook business page to your Instagram profile. If you don’t have it, the social network will offer to create a page right in the process of switching your account. It does not need to be filled out and updated in the future, the page exists nominally, only to include a business profile.
An important difference between a business profile: it cannot be made private. Therefore, if you need privacy, this method of finding the best posting time will not work.
Statistics will only be collected after the business profile is enabled.
If you are doing this now, while reading the article, wait for the data to accumulate. To estimate the days of the week and the time of day when posts are published, you will need to collect data for 3-4 weeks.
Go to the Statistics section and analyze what days of the week and time of day your subscribers are most active. If you click on the graph, absolute values will appear - the number of users among your followers who are online on Instagram at a specified time.
You will also see data on the geography of your subscribers - consider time zones when calculating the best time to post on Instagram.
Method 3: experiment
Try posting photos on Instagram at different times and analyze the impact. Of course, the result will not be completely objective, since other factors also influence the engagement of a publication (and first of all, the content). But with a lot of data, you will see general trends that will help determine the best time to post on Instagram.
To collect the results, a simple table is suitable - fix the date and time the post was published, as well as the number of reactions received (likes, comments, reposts, saves). For accuracy, take the data at the same time - for example, exactly one day after the release of the post.
Worst time to post on Instagram
If there is a better time to post on Instagram, there must be a worse time. If you know the age and time zone of your subscribers, you can even find the worst time using logic - schoolchildren and adults will most likely be offline at night, so they will not see your posts. Due to the slow collection of reactions, Instagram algorithms will decide that your post is not interesting and will not show it in the followers' feed when they are online.
The statistics of different accounts proves this thesis. The Popsters study found the worst time to post was 5am, while the Hubspot study found the worst time to post was between 3am and 4am.
