Last Updated on 05/11/2023
Reddit has an official mobile application that you can use on your smartphone or portable device.
If you find that this app is using too much bandwidth, then you can take a look at this article from Overly Technical to see how you can reduce the data usage.
1. In order to reduce bandwidth usage, the first step you can take is to try adjusting several settings. In order to do so, you need to take the following steps:
- Launch the Reddit App if you haven’t done so already.
- With the mobile application opened, select the human torso icon, which can be found at the top right side of the screen.
- A window should slide in from the right side of the screen. Here, you need to select Settings.
- Once you get to the Settings menu, you need to select the Autoplay option and then set it to “Never” so that videos won’t automatically play when you scroll past a clip. You can also select “When on Wi-Fi” if you want videos to automatically play over a Wi-Fi connection but not when your device is connected to a mobile network.
- In the same Settings menu, select Thumbnails. With the pop-up menu opened, we recommend selecting Never Show. By doing so, images won’t load when you scroll past a Reddit post.
Since the app don’t need to automatically load videos and images, you should be able to save on data usage.
2. We also recommend that you block notifications from the Reddit App.
In order to do so with the Google Pixel 6 running on Android 12, for example, you can do the following:
- Open the Setting App.
- After getting inside Settings, select Apps.
- From the Apps menu, select the “See all X apps” option.
- After you arrive at the All Apps menu, select Reddit.
- Once you get to the App Info screen for the official Reddit Application, select Notification.
- In the next screen, make sure that the “All Reddit Notifications” setting is disabled.
With notifications disabled, the app won’t wastes bandwidth when it is trying to send you a message.
3. You can also turn off the background data usage. Using the aforementioned Pixel 6 as an example again, you can do so by taking the following steps:
- Launch the Settings App.
- In the Settings App, you first need to tap Apps.
- In the next screen, you then need to tap the “See all X apps” option.
- Next, tap Reddit in the All Apps menu.
- You should now be in the App Info menu of the Reddit App. Here, you need to select the “Mobile Data and Wi-Fi.”
- In the “Mobile Data and Wi-Fi” menu of the Reddit App, make sure that the Background Data setting is disabled.
With background data disabled, the Reddit App won’t use any bandwidth when you have it running in the background of your device.