Facebook videos in news feeds eating up your data allowance?

[Greybeard]

A bit of potentially important trivia here for Facebook phone users. Those streaming videos in the news feed really use up data allowances. But the "fix" is relatively simple. http://q13fox.com/2014/09/03/your-faceb ... hone-bill/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[victory]

Uninstalling the app saved me a lot of time and money. Forgetting my password even moreso.

[C-dub]

I've had my data plan so long I still have the unlimited plan.

[TomsTXCHL]

It's not just Facebook and it's not just cellphones; many/most people's Home Pages have embedded video which will play & replay continuously unless you change pages or close your browser. This is a real problem for the clueless, if they have an ISP with limited bandwidth especially Satellite or 3G/4G-type service.

Most apps can be made to block flash videos from automatically playing.

[Keith B]

The Facebook feature is default to auto-play only on WiFi, so unless you changed it, it should be OK. There are other apps like Snapchat, Instgram, etc. that use large amounts of data as well.

If you are seeing heavy usage but can't figure out what app is doing it, there is a free application called Onavo Count that will show you what apps are using the most amounts of data http://www.onavo.com/apps/iphone_count" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I recommend this one to parents whose kids get a new smart phone and tell them to monitor what apps they are using and how much.

Additionally, one other data hog is if you allow apps to be updated automatically across the cellular network. Some apps can be in the 75MB + range and update frequently, so that sucks up data quickly. Also, anyone with a new smart phone will be installing a lot of new apps, so don't download and install across the cellular network, wait until you are on WiFi.

[mamabearCali]

watch the kids aps too. The PBSkids ap ate up in three hours 1/2 of my allotment for the month. We switched it to wifi only.