How much data do you need abroad? A calculator for a day, a week or a month
How much data a trip needs depends on how you use your phone far more than on where you go. Maps and messages take very little; video takes most of it. Set your day below and you get a rough total, then the numbers behind it.
Work it out
About 737 MB a day; with a little margin, for 7 days you need about
5.8 GB
A rough estimate: apps and video quality vary a lot. Run low abroad, and you can add a plan in My cards without reinstalling.
Find a plan for your destinationHow much each thing uses
| Use | About, per hour |
|---|---|
| Maps and navigation | 10 MB |
| Photo feeds, social apps | 205 MB |
| Video calls | 410 MB |
| Short videos | 819 MB |
| HD video, live streams | 2.0 GB |
| Messages, web pages, app updates | about 102 MB a day |
Common estimates, not measurements: higher video quality can use several times as much, and voice-only calls far less.
Three kinds of week
- Light (two hours of maps a day, messages, a little scrolling): about 225 MB a day, 1.8 GB for the week.
- Typical (plus an hour of feeds and an hour of short videos a day): about 1.1 GB a day, 9.0 GB for the week.
- Heavy (plus half an hour of video calls and an hour and a half of HD video a day): about 4.3 GB a day, 34.8 GB for the week.
Using less
- Download offline maps of where you are going before you leave, on home Wi-Fi.
- Turn off automatic photo backup (iCloud Photos, Google Photos, cloud albums) and app updates over mobile data.
- Set video apps to a lower quality on mobile data, and download shows to watch on Wi-Fi.
- Hotel and café Wi-Fi is fine for big downloads; keep your data for maps, rides and messages.
Going to several countries? One multi-country eSIM or one per country.
Questions
Is 1GB a day enough abroad?
Usually: two hours of maps, messages, an hour of feeds and half an hour of short videos come to about 737MB by common estimates. An hour or more of video a day needs more.
Is 3GB a day enough?
For most people, yes: adding an hour of short videos and 45 minutes of HD video to the above comes to about 2.6GB.
How much data for a month abroad?
Light use (maps, messages, a little scrolling) about 7.6GB; with an hour each of feeds and short videos a day, about 38.6GB. Video on top adds 1–2GB an hour.
How much data do I need for two weeks in Japan?
Where you go matters little; how you use the phone does. Two weeks of maps, messages and a little scrolling come to about 3.5GB; with an hour each of feeds and short videos a day, about 18.0GB.
How do I use less data?
Download offline maps before you go, turn off photo backup and app updates over mobile data, lower video quality, and leave big downloads to Wi-Fi.