How much data do your apps really use on a trip?
Maps, WhatsApp, Instagram, video calls and streaming, with realistic numbers per hour, and how many gigabytes a normal week abroad actually needs.
Nobody buys a travel plan in gigabytes because they think in gigabytes. They buy it because they do not want to run out. So here are the numbers that matter, in the order they matter, with the caveat that every figure depends on quality settings, signal and how chatty an app decides to be.
Work it out for your trip
Pick where you are going, how long for, and what you actually do with your phone. The plan suggested below comes from the catalogue as you read this.
The heavy ones
Video calls: roughly 0.5 to 1.5 GB an hour. The single biggest consumer on most trips. Turning your camera off drops it by most of the way.
Video streaming: 0.7 to 3 GB an hour. Standard definition is at the bottom of that range, high definition at the top. On a phone screen, standard definition is usually enough.
Social feeds with autoplay video: 0.5 to 1.5 GB an hour. Instagram, TikTok and the rest are video apps wearing a photo app's clothes. This is where an evening in a hotel disappears.
The medium ones
Photo backup: about the size of your photos. A day of holiday pictures is easily 1 to 2 GB if the phone syncs everything at full resolution. Set it to upload on Wi-Fi only and this problem goes away.
Music streaming: 50 to 150 MB an hour. Small, until it plays all day. Download playlists before you go.
Voice calls over WhatsApp: 10 to 30 MB an hour. Far cheaper than video, and it works on a weak connection.
The light ones, which people fear for no reason
Maps: tens of megabytes an hour while navigating, and much less when you are just checking where you are. Downloading the city offline before you leave makes even that nearly free.
Messaging: a few megabytes a day, unless you are sending videos.
Email and web: a few hundred megabytes over a whole week, for most people.
The lesson is that maps, the thing everyone worries about, is almost never the problem. Video is.
What a week abroad usually needs
- Light use: maps, messages, a few photos sent, occasional browsing. 1 to 3 GB a week.
- Normal use: the above plus social media, some video calls home, photos backed up on hotel Wi-Fi. 5 to 10 GB a week.
- Heavy use: daily video calls, streaming, a laptop tethered for work. A day pass with a daily allowance makes more sense than a fixed bucket.
If you are between two sizes, take the smaller one. With Wigoo you can top up the same eSIM from the app without reinstalling anything, so running short costs you a minute, not a new plan.
Five settings that halve your usage
- Photo backup on Wi-Fi only.
- Autoplay off in Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X.
- Offline maps downloaded for the city before you leave.
- Low Data Mode (iPhone) or Data Saver (Android), which holds back background traffic.
- Downloads before departure: playlists, series, documents, the boarding pass.
Quick answers
Does the phone use data while I sleep?
A little: mail checks, updates, cloud sync. Low Data Mode and Wi-Fi only backups keep it small.
Are these numbers the same on 5G?
The apps are the same, but a faster connection encourages higher quality video, so usage tends to go up. It is a habit effect, not a technical one.
Which apps should I avoid entirely on mobile data?
System updates and app store updates. Both are large, neither is urgent, and both are happy to wait for Wi-Fi.