Estimate data used on social media apps.
Social media data is driven almost entirely by autoplaying video in the feed rather than by images or text. Measurements typically put an autoplay-heavy feed at 6-12 MB a minute, which makes an hour and a half of daily scrolling one of the largest items on a mobile plan. Disabling autoplay commonly cuts that by more than half, because most of the video that loads is never actually watched.
Feed data with and without autoplay
Effective MB per minute = base rate x (1 with autoplay, 0.45 without); monthly GB = minutes x effective rate x days / 1024
Roughly 400-700 MB on a video-heavy feed with autoplay, and 150-250 MB with autoplay off. Feeds dominated by short-form vertical video sit at the top of that range and can exceed 1 GB an hour.
In each app's own data or playback settings — most offer wifi-only autoplay as a middle option, which keeps the experience intact at home while eliminating the cost on cellular.
Yes, and it stacks with disabling autoplay. Data saver modes lower image and video resolution rather than stopping playback, typically cutting a further 20-40 percent of whatever remains.