How much data do I have left?
We can easily check the data usage on our devices and the steps will be similar for most of the devices. But steps will be different to check the data left for our devices. Don’t worry we got you covered, check the section in which you are interested. If you just want to check the data left on your device then skip to the “How much data do I have left” section.
Mobile data is so important because it enables the delivery of content to customers around the world within a fraction of time than it would take using traditional methods. Additionally, it enables us to do things like deliver notifications and information on the go. It is also very important for customer service, so we can respond quickly to customers when they have questions or concerns. We don’t want them to wait until they get home to call us. The bottom line is that data is important for all businesses. Go through our tutorial on how to use Mobile Hotspot without using Data?
Want to know how much data you have used since the start of the month? Want to set data usage alerts to keep you from burning through the precious data. See which are the most useful third-party apps to check the data usage. Learn how you can reduce data usage by using the data saver feature.
How to Check Data Usage on Your Phone
Checking the data usage is easy on iPhones and Android phones since the feature is built-in. We are going to see how we can check the data usage from a certain date for WiFi and mobile data. If you already know about it then you can skip this section. Follow the steps mentioned below to check the data usage:
For iPhone:
- Start your iPhone and open “Settings” and look for “Cellular”.
- Once found, open it and scroll down and you should be able to see the data usage. You can see the data usage of each app also, sorted by most data used to the least. Along with the data usage, you will also see the billing period.
- You can change the settings to check the data usage for a set period, like one month or one day.
NOTE: If you are a part of a family data plan, then you will be able to more in-depth details.
For Android:
- Start your phone and open “Settings”, look for “WiFi” or “Data”.
- Under data look for “Connections”, open it, and then go to “Data”.
- Now you can swipe down to see all the apps and the amount of data they used.
NOTE: The WiFi data usage is limited to a month, and you can not see the last month’s data usage.
Checking data usage for different carriers
AT&T
This is very easy to check the data usage on AT&T, we can call the number and receive the data usage summary. Simply type *3282# (*DATA#) in your phone app and call.
Alternatively, we can download the “myAT&T” app to set up data limits and you will get text messages when you use that data.
Verizon
To check the data usage on your Verizon, you simply need to dial #3282 (#DATA) and you will receive a text summary of your data usage. If you want to receive the information verbally, then stay on the line after calling.
Alternatively, you can download the My Verizon app from the Google PlayStore or Apple’s App Store. Via the app, you can set the data limit on your number and will receive a notification when you reach the usage limit. But if you don’t set a data limit then you will exhaust your data and internet speeds will slow down.
T-Mobile
With T-mobile, you will receive text notifications when you reach 80% and 100% data usage. But if you want to check the data usage then you can dial #WEB# (#932#).
Alternatively, you can download the T-mobile’ app to check the data usage and manage accordingly. This is a much simpler way to check on your data usage and it also enables “binge on” optimization. With this, you can manage the data usage while binge-watching on Netflix and Hulu. We would recommend using this setting since it’s very easy to burn through data while binge-watching.
Spirit
If you want to check the data usage on your Sprint carrier, simply dial *4 and you can get a text summary. Or you can get a verbal summary of the text, data, and message usage if you stay on the call.
But if you are on a family plan then you will automatically get the text notifications when the data usage reaches 75%, 90%, and 100%.
Alternatively, you can download the My Sprint Mobile from Google’s Play Store or Apple’s App Store. The app makes it a lot easier to check your data usage and you can even get a data usage limit.
Cricket
Although Cricket offers unlimited data which makes knowing data usage not very useful. But what you might not know is that after using 22* Gb per month, your data speed may be reduced to network congestion. This is why it is important to track the initial 22* Gb to avoid reduced speed.
Alternatively, you can download the myCricket app from Google’s Play Store or Apple’s App Store. Since Cricket does not send data usage notifications, using the app is very important to keep track of data usage.
Boost Mobile
Boost mobile provide users with unlimited data usage, however just like Cricket there’s a certain data limit. After which you will be shifted from the high-speed 3G to a lower 2G speed. This is why it’s important to keep track of data when using the Boost Mobile carrier.
But unlike cricket, Boost Mobile will send you text notifications when you reach the high-speed data limit. If you want to avoid reaching the data usage then it’s best to keep track of your data usage. The best way to do it is by downloading the My BoostMobile app from Google’s Play Store or Apple’s App Store. From the app, you can easily and quickly check outgoing calls, messages, data usage, and more.
Why Am I Using So Much Data?
Nowadays, apps rely highly on fast and stable internet connections which eventually makes the data usage go up. Apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube have auto-play features that play videos one after another.
Aside from the foreground data usage, apps also use data when they are in the background.
Along with normal apps, streaming apps provide high-quality media which drives up data usage. For example, if you watch on Standard quality then it will use 1 Gb her hour. It’s more than 3 Gb per hour for high-quality, and 7 Gb per hour for Ultra high quality.
This is why apps nowadays use more data when compared to apps a few years ago. If you don’t want your data to get finished then you should check out the next section. We have discussed how you can check the data usage for different mobile carriers.
How can I check my data usage (third-party apps)?
With the introduction of the new Android OS version, we can directly check the data usage. First, we are going to see how we can check data usage without downloading any third-party app.
Using settings (Android)
Follow the steps mentioned below to check the data usage:
- Open “Settings” and tap on “Connections” and look for “Data usage”.
- Once you find Data usage, tap on it and look for “Mobile data usage”.
- Tap on it and you should go to the screen with all the data usage statistics.
- From here you can see the data usage of WiFi and cellular data.
NOTE: From here you can even set data usage to alter, following the steps mentioned below:
- Go back to “Data usage” and look for “Billing cycle”. From here we can set the date for resetting monthly billing.
- Now look for “Data saver” and tap on it. Now from here you can easily set the billing cycle and start data tracking.
Data usage
This app is available on both Android and iOS, however, this app is paid and there are other free alternatives available.
You can download the app from here for Android and from here for iOS.
GlassWire Data Usage Monitor (Android)
This is a really useful app to track your data usage on Android by providing alerts when you exceed data limits. Along with this, you can also see graphs of WiFi and cellular data usage per app.
The app also provides a data saver screen that will limit the data used by apps on your phone. And see the real-time data usage with speed meter within the app.
many other features that are added with every new update. Check out the app by clicking here.
DataMan (iOS)
This is another really useful app for iPhone users to track data usage with many features and a simple UI design. These features include real-time data tracking which means you don’t have to wait for your carrier to provide data usage. There’s also support for widgets that will help you check data usage with a quick glance.
You can also create data plans and customer usage alters while making your life much easier. We would recommend using this app since it doesn’t collect any user data. However, you should know that the app is not free. Download the app from here.
My data manager VPN security
This app is available on both Android and iOS and is free along with a free VPN. However, free VPN is not good news always since it can track your online activity and sell it to advertisers. This can lead to privacy and data risks, which is why we would not recommend using any type of free VPN if you want to secure your online privacy.
Aside from this, the app is very helpful in tracking data usage since it supports device level as well as account-level data usage.
Summary
In the article, we learned how we can check our data usage across different carriers providers. Along with it, we also saw how we can use third-party apps to track our data usage. However, we would recommend that you should not use any app which does not provide a clear user data policy. Also, you should not provide any unnecessary permission to apps without a valid reason. For example, a wallpaper app should not ask for contact permission.
But if you don’t want to use a third-party app then we got you covered, check out the “using settings” section. With the latest updates in the Android OS and iOS, we can easily check the data usage and set usage limits. The best way to know is by checking the settings on your phone. We would recommend going through settings and checking what options are available in “data“.
If you didn’t find what you were looking for then feel free to drop down your query in the comment section below. We are more than happy to help out our readers.