How much data does Spotify use? Tips to reduce data use

Are you a Spotify music lover? Well, Spotify is the favorite app of music lovers worldwide. Users can access millions of songs, albums, podcasts, and audiobooks. Like streaming videos online, music streaming also consumes lots of data from your cellular plan. Thus, users must consider how much data Spotify uses. If your data runs out early, Spotify can be the reason. 

In this article, I will discuss the details of how much the Spotify app consumes your data and the strategies you can take to avoid this over usage. 

How much data does Spotify use?

Spotify is not a primary data-consuming app. The consumption depends on two factors.

• Spend time streaming.
• Playback quality

The more time you spend listening to your favorite music, the more data will be used. Similarly, if you are streaming at very high quality, more data will be used. There are four stages of playback quality: low, medium, high, and very high. You can reduce data consumption by streaming at medium or high quality. 

How much data does Spotify use per hour?

Here is how much data Spotify uses at different qualities. 

• Low Quality: Spotify consumes around 25 MBs per hour while streaming at low quality. 
• Normal Quality: At normal quality, Spotify uses 40 MBs per hour for streaming.  
• High Quality: It is the better option to stream your favourite music. You can enjoy music without spending lots of data. At high quality, Spotify uses 84 MBs per hour. 
• Very High Quality: At this quality, you can experience unique music using 150 MBs per hour. 

Thus, before playing your favourite music, you should adjust the quality to avoid over-data usage. 

Key Spotify Data Qualities

As I mentioned above, you can listen to music on Spotify with four qualities. The data used for streaming depends on your playback quality. Here I am discussing how each level consumes data from listening to one song to using it for a month. 

Quality Setting Data Per Song  Data Per Hour Per Month (Daily 2 Hours) Low Quality 0.72 MB 25 MB 2.4GB Normal Quality  2.88 MB 40 MB 9.6 GB High Quality  4.8 MB 84 MB 16.8 GB Very High Quality 9.6 MB 150 MB 36 GB

For limited data plan users, low and normal are the ideal qualities to enjoy your favorite music without spending much data. However, with an unlimited data plan, you can stream at high or very high quality. 

https://youtu.be/uJ7mjbcQ8as?si=QsHy67neqNz6PqxR

How to check Spotify data usage on your device?

You can check the Spotify data usage from your device settings. Follow the given steps according to your device to find how much data you are spending on streaming music. 

Android Devices

• Open your Android device settings. 
• Tap the More Connectivity.
• Scroll to the Data Usage section and click on Spotify to look at the data usage.

iPhone Devices

• Open your iPhone settings.
• Scroll to the Cellular or Mobile Data section.
• Move to Spotify and confirm your current data usage.

PCs

• Go to the PC settings. 
• Click Network & Internet and move to Advanced Network Settings. 
• Here, you will get the Data Usage section; look at how much data you used. 

Spotify Vs. Apple Music Usage

Spotify and Apple Music are both music streaming apps. Spotify has variant qualities for streaming music. Streaming at very high quality consumes more data compared to low and medium quality. Spotify offers the offline mode, through which you can download the music without overspending data. 

Apple Music also offers different qualities for streaming, but users can’t freely control it like Spotify. Apple Music offers lossless audio, which provides better sound quality but consumes more data than the regular level. It is considered that Apple Music consumes more data than Spotify. On average, Apple Music consumes 8 GB of data at very high quality. 

https://youtu.be/-a7hx7Iir7I?si=3O--WqdtnGXL28bH

Tips to Reduce Spotify Data Usage

There are multiple ways to reduce data usage while using Spotify. The premium version of Spotify is the best to avoid spending more data. Similarly, if you enable the data saver or change your playback quality, it also reduces your data usage. 

Use Spotify Premium

Becoming a Spotify member is beneficial to avoid extra data usage. It allows users to enjoy the music and favourite audiobooks in offline download. Users can change the quality without facing the hassle of ads or shifting from one song to another. 

Enable Data Saver Mode 

Mobile devices have the settings to reduce the data usage of different apps. However, if you spend most of your time on Spotify and stream a lot, you can enable the data saver mode for the app. You can do it through the following settings.

• Open the Spotify app on your device.
• Move to Settings & Privacy and then the Data Saver section. 
• Activate the Data Saver and reduce data usage. 

Change Audio Quality

There are four audio qualities for streaming on Spotify. Using low and medium is the ideal quality to minimize your data consumption. You can change the quality settings from your app. 

• Open Settings and move to Settings & Privacy.
• Look for the audio quality and set it to automatic. 
• The setting will change the audio quality according to your data coverage and speed.

Buy Unlimited Yaalo eSIM Plans

eSIM is a convenient solution for getting seamless connectivity. For international travel, buying eSIM unlimited data plans for streaming videos and music and scrolling social media platforms is the best idea. But which eSIM data plans are best for your travel? 

Multiple providers offer eSIM plans, but I recommend you choose Yaalo eSIM. The carrier offers data-only, data, voice, and text plans. You can get the local, regional, or global eSIMs according to your travel needs. 

Conclusion

Does Spotify use more data? When the data plans run out early, this is the commonly asked question from Spotify users. Spotify data consumption depends on the time you spend on streaming and the audio quality. If you are streaming at very high quality, more data will be used. You can check the data consumption from your device settings. If you notice, that Spotify is using most of your data plans, you can use the data-saving steps given in the article. 

FAQs

How long does 1GB of data last on Spotify?

It depends on at which quality level you are streaming on Spotify. If you are streaming at very high quality, 1GB may not be longer. However, at normal quality, it can last for 12 hours. 

Does using Spotify use a lot of data?

If you are streaming music at high or very high quality, the data consumption will be higher. Spotify uses 85 MB per hour at high quality, which is comparatively lower than streaming videos on YouTube or Netflix.