How Much Data Do I Need To Keep My Everyday Activities Running Smoothly?

Today's world revolves around connectivity. We spend most of our days connected to our devices, using social media apps, news apps, and more. That's why it's essential to monitor and understand how much data we need to stay connected and maintain our daily routines without any hassles, whether locally or internationally. You wouldn't want to run out of data in the middle of a meeting, looking at your Google Maps for directions, or sharing the best moments of your trip with your family or friends. Our phone is our primary communication tool, and without data, it becomes useless.

Here is a guide to keep you informed about the data usage of some common apps, helping you understand just how much data is needed to avoid any hassles locally as well as internationally — where you'll want to steer clear of those costly roaming charges.

What are MB and GB?

Data is often measured in megabytes (MB) and gigabytes (GB). A megabyte is equivalent to a million bytes, or 1,024 kilobytes (KB), while a gigabyte is 1,024 megabytes. These are different units than megabits (Mb) and gigabits (Gb), which are much smaller — one megabyte is equal to eight megabits. You often won't need to worry about megabits but rather how many megabytes or gigabytes you have available because the apps that travelers tend to use — including social media, transportation, and other travel-related apps — can quickly consume a lot of data.

If you're tech-savvy, you're probably aware of how much data you use in your daily routine and make efforts to limit data usage to enhance your experience and keep your finances under control. That's great. However, traveling abroad can dramatically impede these efforts as your phone becomes your most important tool and as usage increases due to different necessities in unknown places and cultures. So, if you want to focus on the experience of your journey without constantly worrying about how much data you have left, the go-to solution is having an international eSIM (digital SIM card) with unlimited data.

An international eSIM allows you to stay connected worldwide without relying on long lines at the airport to get a physical SIM card, complicated paperwork, or facing those infamously high roaming fees. Since eSIM installation and activation takes only a minute, you will have your data enabled as soon as you land. Just make sure to verify if your device is on the eSIM-compatible devices list.

How much data can social media consume?

Social media is a vital part of our daily routine. We spend all day on TikTok, Instagram, X, Facebook, and YouTube to stay updated and informed, as well as to take some time to chill out and explore other topics to expand our horizons. All this engagement results in high data usage.

When we are abroad, we also use these platforms to get the best recommendations and tips from content creators, discover new places, share our experiences with loved ones, seek local recommendations, and connect with fellow explorers and the global travel community. That's why it's so important to have an idea of the data we need to avoid any kind of bad experiences.

Here are some rough estimates for how much data you may consume on the most popular social media apps:

Facebook: 480 MB/hour
Instagram: 500 MB/hour
X (formerly known as Twitter): 360 MB/hour
Snapchat: 720 MB/hour
YouTube: 500MB/hour (at 480p)
TikTok: 840 MB/hour
Total Social Media Data Estimate: 3,400 MB (or 3.4 GB)

Transportation apps are a part of modern life, so it's essential to consider their usage. The importance of the data used on these apps may not be significant initially, but it changes when you are abroad, as you will be unfamiliar with the language or the way addresses are organized in the place you're visiting. Taking it into consideration will prevent you from being in the middle of nowhere, running out of data.

Here are some rough estimates for how much data you may consume on some of the most popular transportation apps:

Uber/Lyft: 2 MB/min (30 MB per 15 minutes of use)
Google Maps: 5 MB/hour

Extra data usage with handy apps

Besides social media and navigation apps, you'll likely use other handy apps on a daily basis, whether it's for local recommendations, games, translating languages, or other uses. While this is a rough estimate, you can reasonably assume you may use another 60 MB or so of data on these miscellaneous apps daily, depending on your needs.

How much does 1GB of data get me in the real world?

When adding up the data consumed that a high-data user can expect to use on social media, transportation, and other handy apps, you would get — on average — around 3,495 MB (or nearly 3.5 GB) in a given day abroad:

Overall Daily Data Estimate: 3,400 MB (social media) + 35 MB (transportation) + 60 MB (other apps) = 3,495 MB

While these specific applications mentioned may not align with your personal usage, this can serve as a useful reference. This also shows how much you can get out of 1 GB of data while abroad, which can provide you with an hour of Netflix (in standard definition), over an hour of TikTok usage, over 33 hours of Spotify listening, or 200 hours of using Google Maps.

If you know you are a high data consumption user and don't want to pay costly roaming fees from your local carrier when you are abroad, using an Holafly international eSIM — will help you a lot, as it allows you to stay digitally connected in more than 180 destinations with unlimited data plans with just a few taps on your phone without the need for plastic SIM cards. Even though you can use your plan as a hotspot for your laptop, make sure to verify if this feature is included in the destination you will be visiting. Additionally, it covers entire regions like Europe, North America, South America, and Asia, with 24/7 support available in more than five languages. You can use the eSIM app to check your data usage, purchase another plan, install your eSIM, activate it, and monitor the remaining days of your plan.

How to install your eSIM

Here is a quick guide on how to install your eSIM and avoid SIM card long queues or roaming fees on your daily usage:

Things become even easier for Holafly iPhone users as you will have at your disposal the automatic installation option, which will make the process faster. Additionally, you will still have the QR and manual options.

Recommended settings on your cellphone to save data

To avoid any surprise fees, make sure that if you are not on an unlimited data plan, you create restrictions and limits for the usage of your phone. This may not be the ideal way to use your device, as it may restrict your experience, but at least you'll have available data when you need it the most, and you won't incur roaming charges when exceeding the limit of your data usage.

Additionally, you can reduce the video quality of streaming apps to conserve data, as well as take advantage of settings in certain apps that can also reduce data usage.

There are other ways to conserve data on your device as well, including disabling automatic updates, turning off the background data refresh feature that some apps employ, using low data or data saver modes that are built into many common devices, and downloading maps, articles, and streaming content when you're connected to Wi-Fi so that you can view them while offline.

For international trips, it is recommended to get a plan that aligns with your travel experience, as it makes no sense to save money for a trip and then not be able to get the most out of it due to the lack of connectivity for messaging, social media, or translation apps you may need to communicate and get around an unfamiliar setting.

Having control over how much data you use and how much money you'll spend on it is crucial to avoid the inconveniences of running out of data at crucial times and in critical situations. When you select a data plan, whether it's locally or internationally, make sure to take into account your typical daily and monthly data usage needs. In that way, you can ensure the chosen plan will suit your needs.

If you want to make sure all your bases are covered and not worry about constantly checking how much data you have left or dealing with roaming fees from your local carrier, the Holafly international eSIM is an easy solution that can provide you with unlimited data — worldwide.

Don't forget to take into account the above averages of typical data usage so that you can plan accordingly and keep your experience smooth — locally and internationally — without any hassles, worries, or surprises.