Do you use WhatsApp on a cellular (mobile data) network and want to know how much data it uses per hour?
WhatsApp uses 24 to 30 MB of data for voice calls and about 300 MB for video calls in an hour. However, the usage may differ based on the cellular network generation and quality of the call. If you are using WhatsApp to send text messages, it will consume 1 to 2 MB of data per hour on average, depending on the size, type, and media files.
In this article, we’ll reveal how much data WhatsApp uses per hour for calls and messages. We’ll also explore some steps to reduce WhatsApp data usage.
How much data does a 1 hour WhatsApp call use?
WhatsApp is a popular app that lets you communicate with your loved ones across the globe via audio or video calls.
But if you use a cellular network to call others on WhatsApp, you may want to know how much data it uses per hour.
Well, the amount of data used during a 1 hour WhatsApp call varies depending on several factors, such as:
- Type of call.
- Network generation.
- Quality of the service.
Below is the general estimate for the amount of data used by WhatsApp during voice or video calls.
Voice Call
On average, WhatsApp voice calls use 400 to 500 kb or 0.4 to 0.5 MB per minute. So, let’s covert it for one hour using the formula below:
Data Used in 1 Hour: (Data (in MB) used per minute) x (60 minutes)
Putting the data in the equation:
Data Used in 1 Hour: 0.4 or 0.5 MB x 60 minutes
Amount of Data Used in 1 Hour: 24 or 30 MB
So WhatsApp voice calls use 24 to 30 MB of your cellular data per hour.
Video Call
WhatsApp video call consumes more cellular data than a voice call. In general, it uses about 5 MB of data per minute or 25 MB per 5 minutes.
To estimate the amount of data used per hour, let’s calculate it using the equation given below:
Data Used in 1 Hour: (Data used per minute) x (60 minutes)
Data Used in 1 Hour: (5 MB) x (60)
Amount of Data Used in 1 Hour: 300 MB
This means that when you make a video call to someone on WhatsApp, it will consume about 300 MBs of your cellular network.
Network Generations
The network generations greatly impact the amount of data used during WhatsApp calls. This is because older generations result in lower-quality calls while newer ones offer high-quality calls with more data consumption.
Below is the average amount of data used during WhatsApp calls based on the network generation:
- 2G Data: 200 kb per minute or 12 MB per hour.
- 3G Data: 300 kb/minute or 18 MB/Hour.
- 4G Data: 500 kb per minute or 30 MB/Hour.
- 5G Data: 750 kb per minute or 45 MB per hour.
NOTE: Lower quality due to older network generations often leads to WhatsApp calls being cut out.
Service/Call Quality
The quality of your service or WhatsApp call also determines the amount of data used per hour.
Here’s a general estimate:
- Standard Quality: For a standard quality (128 kbps) call, WhatsApp may use about 0.4 to 0.75 MB per minute or 24 to 45 MB per hour.
- High Quality: High quality or 256 kbps WhatsApp calls use around 1.5 to 5 MB per minute or 90 to 300 MB per hour.
How much data does WhatsApp use an hour for messaging?
WhatsApp messages use very little data, around 30 kb (or 0.03 MB) per minute) unless you send or receive a lot of:
- Voice/Video messages
- Pictures
- Videos
So, let’s calculate the average data used per hour:
Average Data Used Per Hour: (Data Used Per Minute) x (60 Minutes)
Average Data Used Per Hour: (0.03) x (60)
Data Used Per Hour: 1.8 MB
So, if we take an average estimate, WhatsApp uses around 1 to 2 MB per hour for sending messages, depending on its type, size, and media files.
How can I reduce WhatsApp data usage?
If you want to reduce the amount of data used per hour on WhatsApp, here are 3 tried and tested solutions that have helped many users.
Change Data And Storage Settings
The first solution to reduce WhatsApp data usage is to change the “Data and Storage” settings on the app this way:
Android:
- Open “WhatsApp.”
- Tap the three dots.
- Tap “Settings.”
- Select “Storage and Data.”
- Toggle on “Use Less Data for Calls.”
iPhone:
- Open “WhatsApp.”
- Select “Settings.”
- Tap “Storage and Data.”
- Toggle on “Use Less Data for Calls.”
WhatsApp will now use less network during audio or video calls.
Disable Auto Media Download
WhatsApp allows you to share and receive a variety of media files through messages. But such messages use a lot of your cellular data.
Therefore, the best course of action is to configure the app to download media files on Wi-Fi only. To do this:
Android:
- Open “WhatsApp.”
- Tap the three dots.
- Choose “Settings.”
- Choose “Storage and Data.”
- Tap “When Using Mobile Data.”
- Uncheck all the boxes.
- Tap “OK.”
iPhone:
- Open “WhatsApp.”
- Tap “Settings.”
- Choose “Storage and Data.”
- Tap “Photos.”
- Choose “Wi-Fi.”
- Do the same for “Audio,” “Video,” and “Documents.”
Once you configure the Auto Media Download settings on WhatsApp, the app won’t save the media files to your gallery automatically and will consume less cellular data on messages.
Disable the WhatsApp Chat Backup
If you’ve configured WhatsApp to back up your chats and other account information, it will consume your network during the process.
So, disable the chat backup on WhatsApp and enable it only when you are using a Wi-Fi connection. Here’s how:
Android:
- Open “WhatsApp.”
- Tap the three dots.
- Tap “Settings.”
- Select “Chats.”
- Tap “Chat Backup.”
- Toggle off “Backup Using Cellular Data” and that’s all!
iPhone:
- Open “WhatsApp.”
- Tap “Settings.”
- Tap “Chats.”
- Select “Chat Backups.”
- Tap “Auto Backup.”
- Tap “Off,” and that’s it!
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve revealed how much data WhatsApp uses per hour. We’ve also discussed how you can reduce the data usage on the platform.
We hope this article has provided you with all the valuable insights and you can now optimize WhatsApp to utilize less data.
