What is TikTok?
TikTok is a popular video sharing social media app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It allows users to create, view, and share short videos typically 15 seconds or less. Since launching outside of China in 2017, TikTok has gained immense popularity, especially among Generation Z users. As of 2022, TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide (Investopedia).
TikTok is best known for its short form video content. Users can shoot videos right within the app using their smartphone cameras and then add music, filters, and effects. A key feature of TikTok is its “For You” page algorithm that personalizes the video feed for each user based on their watch history and preferences. This creates an endless stream of entertaining and relevant content (Influencer Marketing Hub).
In summary, TikTok is a rapidly growing social media platform built around sharing short form videos. Its popularity among younger demographics has cemented its status as a top social media app.
TikTok’s Data Usage
Streaming and uploading videos on TikTok can use a significant amount of mobile data. While the short videos on TikTok are usually 15 seconds to 3 minutes long, users tend to watch many videos in each session which can quickly add up.
According to research, watching TikTok videos for 5 minutes can use around 70MB of data. If you extrapolate that over an hour, it equates to about 840MB or nearly 1GB of data per hour spent on TikTok [1]. This is because TikTok videos stream at a high resolution by default to provide the best viewing experience.
Compared to other social media apps like Instagram Reels which uses around 100MB in 5 minutes, TikTok does tend to use more data. This is likely due to the fact that TikTok videos are designed for vertical viewing on mobile while other platforms originated with horizontal formats.
So users who watch a lot of TikTok videos in a day can burn through a significant amount of cellular data without realizing it. Having unlimited data or using WiFi when possible are good options to avoid surprises.
Does TikTok have a Data Saver Feature?
Currently, TikTok does not have a built-in data saver feature like some other social media and streaming apps. However, there are a few workarounds TikTok users can try to reduce data usage when using the app.
While TikTok itself does not have a data saver setting, both iOS and Android devices have system-level data saving options users can enable. On an iPhone, enabling Low Data Mode reduces background app refresh and autoplay, which helps limit TikTok’s data demands. Android users can restrict background data usage for TikTok in their device settings. Though not as robust as an in-app data saver, leveraging system tools like these can help rein in TikTok’s data appetite.
Users can also take proactive measures like connecting to WiFi whenever possible, preventing videos from auto-playing, restricting background app refresh, and lowering video resolution. Though TikTok itself doesn’t currently offer a data saving mode, savvy users can find ways to curb data usage with a bit of effort and the right system settings.
TikTok Video Quality Options
One way TikTok allows users to reduce data usage is by providing options to set the video quality when recording or uploading videos. TikTok has three main video quality settings: Low, Medium, and High.
The Low setting records and uploads videos at a lower resolution and bitrate, which significantly reduces the amount of data used. As per the TikTok support site, Low quality videos use approximately 275KB per second of video, while High uses around 1MB per second (TikTok Newsroom). This means choosing Low can use less than a third of the data compared to High quality.
Medium quality provides a balance, using around 550KB per second. This still provides reasonable video quality while saving on data usage compared to High.
The video quality setting can be changed in the app before recording a video, or when uploading an existing video. Using the Low or Medium setting is an easy way for TikTok users to reduce their mobile data consumption when creating and sharing videos.
Using WiFi for TikTok
One of the best ways to reduce TikTok’s data usage is to use WiFi whenever possible instead of mobile data. TikTok can use a significant amount of data, especially for streaming videos, so connecting to WiFi is ideal. This will prevent TikTok from eating into your monthly mobile data allowance.
You can restrict TikTok to only work when you’re connected to WiFi in your device’s settings or app settings. On an iPhone, go to Settings > Cellular and toggle off cellular data for TikTok. On Android, go to Settings > Apps > TikTok > Mobile data and disable mobile data usage. This will prevent TikTok from using any mobile data in the background or when you open the app without WiFi.
It’s generally recommended to use WiFi for any bandwidth-intensive apps like TikTok whenever possible. Staying on WiFi will let you watch and upload as many TikTok videos as you want without worrying about data caps or overage charges from your carrier. Using WiFi is one of the simplest ways to get the full TikTok experience without excess mobile data usage.
Limiting Automatic Downloads
One way to reduce TikTok’s data usage is to limit the automatic downloading of videos on your device. By default, TikTok will download new videos as you scroll through your feed. This constant streaming and downloading can quickly eat up mobile data.
To help limit data usage, you can turn off auto-downloading of videos in your TikTok settings. This will prevent videos from downloading until you manually choose to download a video by tapping on it. According to TikTok’s support site, you can disable auto-downloading by going to your profile, tapping the three-dot menu, choosing ‘Settings and privacy,’ then toggling off ‘Auto-download videos on Wi-Fi.’
With auto-download disabled, you’ll have more control over which videos get downloaded over mobile data. You can selectively choose to download only certain videos that you want to watch carefully later. Avoid downloading videos that you just want to casually scroll through. Manually selecting downloads prevents TikTok from eats up large amounts of data in the background.
Restricting Background Usage
One way to reduce TikTok’s data usage is to restrict its ability to run and use data in the background when you’re not actively using the app. This prevents TikTok from automatically downloading videos, ads, and recommendations you’re not actually watching.
On Android devices, you can restrict background data usage for TikTok specifically by going to Settings > Apps & notifications > Advanced > App permissions > Background data. Then select TikTok and toggle off “Allow background data usage.”
On iOS, you can turn off background app refresh for TikTok under Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Turn off “Background App Refresh” or select TikTok under the Apps Using Background App Refresh header and toggle it off.
Restricting background usage means TikTok can only use data when you have the app open and are actively watching videos. This prevents hefty data usage from auto-playing videos and downloads you didn’t initiate. Just be aware that you may miss some notifications as a trade-off.
As noted on Reddit, TikTok’s background data collection is tied to its terms of service and data harvesting for its parent company, ByteDance. Restricting background usage can help limit this extensive data gathering (source).
Using a VPN or Proxy Server
One way to reduce TikTok’s data usage is by routing your traffic through a virtual private network (VPN) or proxy server. VPNs and proxies act as intermediaries between your device and the internet, directing and encrypting your traffic. This allows you to enable data compression features to reduce bandwidth usage.
A VPN can compress and optimize video streams to use less data. According to this Quora post, using a VPN with TikTok is technically possible, though there may be some limitations around geo-restrictions. It’s important to choose a reliable VPN designed for streaming if you want to maximize data savings.
Some free proxy services like Super Proxy VPN advertise unlimited data for TikTok. However, free proxies often have data limits, slower speeds, and less encryption. Paid VPNs tend to offer better performance, more features, and guaranteed unlimited data usage.
Overall, a VPN or proxy can route and compress TikTok’s data usage, potentially cutting your usage significantly. Just be sure to choose a high-quality paid VPN designed specifically for video streaming to get the most savings.
Caching Content
TikTok allows users to cache video content that they have already viewed in order to avoid re-downloading videos when re-watching them. This can help reduce mobile data usage.
When a user watches a video on TikTok, the content is temporarily downloaded and saved locally on the device. If the user wants to re-watch that same video again shortly after, TikTok will load the cached version rather than downloading it again. This means users don’t have to use more of their mobile data allowance just to re-watch videos (Source).
To take advantage of TikTok’s caching, users can simply re-watch videos they’ve already seen before. The app will automatically load the cached version. There’s no setting to enable. The cached videos are usually available for about 24 hours after first viewing.
Clearing the TikTok cache deletes all saved video content. This means videos will have to be re-downloaded the next time the user wants to watch them. So avoiding clearing the cache can help preserve downloaded videos for re-watching offline (Source).
Overall, allowing TikTok to cache videos can reduce mobile data usage for users who enjoy re-watching the same viral videos multiple times. It’s an automatic feature that requires no configuration.
Summary
Despite not having a built-in feature to limit cellular data usage, there are several ways TikTok users can optimize and reduce data consumption on the app. The main workarounds include lowering video quality settings, using WiFi whenever possible, restricting background usage and automatic downloads, and utilizing a VPN or proxy server to compress data. While TikTok itself doesn’t have a definitive data saver mode yet, being aware of your settings and network connections can help control how much data the app uses.
Key options to reduce data usage include setting your video quality lower, turning off the “Auto” setting for downloads over cellular connections, restricting background app refresh, and caching content whenever you are on WiFi. Using mobile data compression tools like a VPN or proxy can also minimize the amount of data streamed. Overall, TikTok does not have a built-in data saver, but users have some techniques to optimize their cellular data consumption.
