Facebook Mobile feature is taking up too much data!

Published: September 4, 2014 3:35 PM /

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Facebook Mobile

Users of Facebook on both computers and mobile phones are aware of the frequent adaptations and developments being introduced. The latest of these features is for a video that a user posts to autoplay without any interaction from a user past scrolling to a point where the video is seen. A feature like this can very easily and very quickly consume a lot of data.

This autoplay video is something that people can appreciate and also enjoy on a home computer or laptop where you have a connection to the internet that is built to handle a lot of data but for mobile users many are reporting high usage bills. MoneySavingExpert.com, a consumer finance website, has said that "many complaints from people who have been stung with data bills after exceeding their monthly allowance and who believe it to be because of Facebook autoplaying videos." It was also commented that while this feature is a large cause of the autoplaying videos the multitude of facebook users uploading ALS Ice Bucket challenge videos has meant more videos have been appearing on users timelines than usual.

This feature is activated by default on the iOS and Android version of Facebook Mobile so whether users are on 3G, 4G or even WiFi be aware that your data is getting used even while you are only scrolling. To ensure that you are protected form these advancing data charges you can follow the steps below to turn off the autoplaying videos:

For an iOS device Go to Settings > Facebook After that go Settings > Autoplay Here select either WiFi only or Off

For an Android device Open the Facebook App Go to Account Settings > App Settings > Auto-Play Here select either WiFi only or Off

Facebook for Windows Phone doesn't have this features so users don't need to worry about the autoplay videos.

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