It’s one of those things almost every traveller knows about, and very few actually do, at least not until their data disappears in minutes.
We’ll remind you about them in this post, plus one extra tip our support team specifically asked us to share.

If you’re a light data user, like me, a 1–2 GB package for a short trip makes perfect sense. And honestly, it usually is enough. Unless your phone has other plans: automatic updates, photo cloud sync, podcasts quietly downloading in the background, a video app helping itself to the connection. Suddenly, your package is gone much faster than expected, before you’ve even opened a browser.

Travel tip #1, and it’s straightforward: before your trip, go through your phone settings and turn off anything that downloads or syncs automatically.

The tricky part is finding all those settings. They’re buried deep and tend to move between OS versions. Instead of following a step-by-step path that may already be outdated, use the search bar in iPhone Settings or the search bar on your Android phone. Look for these keywords to find and adjust your auto-update settings:

iPhone: Updates, Downloads, Backup, iCloud, Low Data Mode

Android: Update, Backup, Auto-update apps

Be careful with photo sync on iPhone – it’s usually safer to switch on Low Data Mode than to turn iCloud Photos sync off completely. Turning it off could affect photos on your device.

And here’s the extra tip from our tech support — one they come across every week:
When you share your mobile data via hotspot, the other person’s phone treats it like a regular Wi-Fi network. Because technically, that’s exactly what it is. Which means every setting they configured to “only update on Wi-Fi” can kick in: app updates, photo sync, your child’s game downloads.

All of it running in the background, eating through your package. So ask anyone using your hotspot to disable auto-updates and backup. iPhone users can also turn on Low Data Mode for your hotspot network. 

If you regularly share data with your family, there’s an easier way: with MTX Connect, you can manage up to 10 SIM cards in one account. Give them their own data, under your control, instead of passing one hotspot around.

Travel prepared and MTX-connected, 

Jan Verny
MTX Connect Chronicler