Even though many phone carriers have the option for unlimited data, with wifi so readily available, people are still opting for fixed data plans in order to save money on their monthly cell bill. If you find yourself going over your monthly limit often or getting close, here are a few tips to reduce your data usage and save some money:

Data Awareness

Make sure to take a look at your data settings to see which apps are consuming the most data. You may find that there are quite a few apps you never use that are taking up precious space. Skim through and get rid of the apps you don’t use or turn off the data to the ones you use infrequently.

Social Media

Almost everyone has some form of social media, and typically more than that. If you are running Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat all at once, you are going to be killing a ton of your data. You use some serious megabytes by loading all of the photos and videos that are being uploaded every minute. Luckily, there are ways you can limit the damage for each app.

• For Facebook and Twitter, turn off autoplay in account settings.
• Instagram offers a “use less data” button you can enable. It will slow down the loading time but will save valuable data.
• In Snapchat, try turning off Smart Backup which will stop the app from keeping your “Memories” and free up a lot of storage.

Download Necessities

This includes maps, shows, articles, etcetera. Google Maps alone can drain your data, so make sure to download whatever maps you need so you can use them offline. You can do this in your local neighborhood, or when traveling, so you never get lost and don’t use a lot of data unnecessarily. This also applies to entertainment. If you have a long commute or a lot of downtime, download some shows on Netflix while you’re connected to wi-fi to watch later. You can also download articles, book or podcasts ahead of time to keep your entertainment high and your data low.

Wi-Fi Assist

This particular feature enables our phones to switch to data whenever we have a slow or spotty wi-fi connection. You may not realize just how much data this is costing you. If you visit your Cellular Data section on your phone and go to Wi-Fi Assist, you can see how much data this feature is using up and disable it if it’s a significant amount.

If you are tired of limiting your data intake, check out this comparison of the top unlimited data plans from CNet for a full breakdown.

At the end of the day, the biggest data saver is always wi-fi. Stay connected and lower your data usage by downloading WiFi Map today!