Activating a simple switch in the Chrome browser settings on Android can significantly reduce the size of the web pages you visit and greatly improve the life of your mobile data. The option is called Reduce data and it is found in Settings > Reduce data in Chrome for Android. By default it is disabled..
According to Google, this option can optimize certain web pages "up to 50%", that is, it makes them smaller so that the download of data is cut in half. For this process, between the Android phone and the computer that hosts the web page, Google computers are the intermediaries that carry out this process.
Reduce Data option activated in Chrome 41 for Android..
The percentage of data savings will depend on the content of the web pages and the number of tunable sites that are visited. This function does not optimize pages with secure connection ( http s ) or pages visited using incognito mode.
Activating data reduction not only reduces consumption but also activates safe browsing in the browser ( Safe Browsing ) which warns the user when visiting a dangerous web page, so it is recommended even if browsing with a Wi-Fi connection. This avoids falling into phishing websites (sites that impersonate the identity of another to obtain banking or private information of the user) or that contain malware (including viruses)..
Alternatives to Chrome data compression
Previously, there were applications specializing in this data compression issue, such as Onavo Extend Data Savings (later succeeded by Onavo Spaceship ) and Opera Max , which could even be used in conjunction with data reduction in Chrome to further extend the duration of the mobile data plan, by compressing up to 50% the data downloaded by all Android applications that use the internet (including Chrome). Onavo could even cache the data (save the data on the phone so that it would not have to be downloaded the next time) and Opera Max could shrink down to the size of videos.
Unfortunately, all these apps stopped working, but if you are not using Chrome, it is likely that your browser also has an option to save data in its settings, as is the case with Opera . To save data on other apps, consider blocking the internet for those who download the most data . You can observe this with monitoring applications such as My Data Manager or WePlan , which also allow you to control consumption.
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