New Website Promises to Show How Much Data Apps Use Before Users Download Them
A new website has been created to show users how much they can expect the most popular free and premium apps will eat away at their data plans, helping users understand which apps are draining their data away when they are not using wifi.
The website, called KnowMyApp.org, has both Apple and Android apps listed and is run by the CTIA. The website has 50 of the most popular apps currently on the website, and more apps will be added each month. CTIA invites app makers to submit their apps to the website to be tested so that users can see exactly how much data each one will use. The website finds the average amount of data an app uses not just when it is in active use, but also when it is downloaded, when it is booted up, and when the app is running in the background.
This is the first tool aimed at allowing mobile phone users to see if an app will use too much of their data before the actual app is downloaded. Most carriers and devices do not allow users to see how much data a certain app will use until after it is downloaded, which can be a problem especially with premium apps. The website also seeks to appeal to app developers by helping them figure out how to conserve data usage and minimize how much battery life an app uses. The website also gives users strategies for reducing how much data their apps use.
This tool is very helpful for determining when users should use certain apps, as data is not used up when a user is connected to a wifi network. For example, according to Know My App the video streaming service Netflix averages over 4GB of data usage per month, This is above what many user's data plans allow, so knowing how much data the app uses can save people from paying extra without needing to.
Many interesting statistics are revealed through this new website. Minecraft, the popular sandbox game, averages less than one MB of data use in a month. Pet Rescue Saga, in comparison, uses 2.93MB of data in the same time. Social apps such as Snapchat use far more data than games, however, with Snapchat using 184.66MB of data a month and Skype using 490.07MB of data on average.