Just like everybody else, I hugely rely on mobile data whenever I’m outdoors.
Whether I’m on my duty or not, I always make sure to avail an Internet promo from my telco provider for communication and transportation purposes. However, it has always been a challenge for me to monitor my own data usage. Aside from being an absent-minded gal, there are some instances that my network wasn’t able to send notification about my mobile data. Good thing that Google has finally released a new mobile app exclusively for us, Android users, that will solve our woes!
Popularly known as Datally, this mobile data manager enables its users to understand, control, and save their Internet connection. Initially have been tested in the Philippines earlier last year, the app has been officially out in the Google Playstore for all Android phones running on the Lollipop 5.0 and higher.
A sign of Google’s initiative of making a user-friendly and space-saving app that are within anyone’s reach are evident as the main menu popped in my screen. It runs smoothly as I explored the whole mobile app. However, there are some redundancy on its design since a lot of icons and sub-menus lead to the same functions. This is the only flaw that I think Google should work out soon since it may cause confusion to those who downloaded Datally. There are also certain tasks that you should do first such as downloading and spending mobile data on the listed apps for you to earn a free mobile data that will be credited to your account. This reward system is definitely one of the things that you should look forward as you save data and do more with this ultimate smartphone ally.
Three Main Features
Basically, the mobile app consists of different functions that are categorized for monitoring, conserving and tracking your mobile data.
Let’s start off with my personal favorite which is the most useful. The Data Saver, as it name suggests, helps you to save up to 30% of mobile data by customizing the settings of your installed mobile apps. As a heavy mobile data subscriber, I find this option very efficient since I am able to allocate my Internet connection only to my chosen apps and it actually works! In fact, I was able to consume just 140 MB out of my 1.3 GB worth of mobile data in the whole day. All unwanted apps that were initially running on the backgroundusually wastes and sucks up almost half of my data subscription but now, I could escape from the problem by blocking it in just one tap. There’s also a floating dock that tells your realtime MB count on a specific app. This also appears when you turn on the Data Saver mode on. Under this feature sits the Data Balance monitor that reflects your remaining MBs on your promo.
Second among the list talks about searching a stable connection. Tapping the “Find Wi-Fi” button leads you to a list of the strongest Wi-Fi hotspots within your area. The freedom is all yours to take as it provides you the exact directions of the hotspot from your location via Google Maps.
Another feature that this app offers is its data usage metrics. Presented in a simple yet clean format of a bar graph, this specific metrics records your data usage on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis within a specific time frame.You can also see below the amount of data you have consumed for different apps installed on your device which is pretty handy if you’re OC like me.
Availability
There are no words yet from Google about its iOS version but it is currently available in Google Play Store which is a good news for Android fans who usually bumps up their data cap.
Words by Jewel Sta. Ana
Published on Gadgets Magazine February 2018 Issue