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    Did You Know That Snapchat Is Secretly Eating All Of Your Data?

    GIGABYTES, you guys.

    OK Snapchatters, put down your phone for a sec, because we need to talk.

    The Snapchat app could be using up a *lot* of your data in the background, which is bad news for those of us with limited data (or unlimited data with limited LTE) plans.

    How much, you ask? We're talking not megabytes, but gigabytes of data every month potentially.

    I had a creeping suspicion Snapchat was still a data hog, despite several recent updates to improve excessive usage, and so I surveyed my co-workers.

    Christina found that Snapchat gobbled up over 1 gigabyte of data (even with the "reduced data usage" setting, which we'll get to later). My other colleague, Sarah, discovered Snapchat had used THIRTEEN gigabytes.

    13.4 GB for Snapchat. Just Snapchat.

    And they're not alone: several Snapchat users on Reddit have reported the same issue over the past year.

    It's because the app downloads all of your friends' stories in the background, plus some Live Stories and Discover content.

    There are two ways you can fix your Snapchat woes.

    First, check your data usage and make sure Snapchat is actually the culprit.

    On the iPhone, open Settings > Cellular, and scroll to Snapchat. On Android, open Settings > Data Usage.

    *Note that on the iPhone, you need to reset usage statistics after every billing cycle. If you don't reset, the number you see reflects usage over the lifetime of the device. To reset, scroll to the bottom of the Cellular settings page and tap Reset Statistics.

    Next, go to your Snapchat Settings and under "Additional Services," tap Manage > enable Travel Mode.

    With travel mode on, you'll need to tap to load content.

    Finally, if you have very limited data on your plan, consider disabling cell data for Snapchat entirely.

    You can still record snaps without data, but they won't post. When you're on Wi-Fi, just push them through retroactively.

    Good luck, Snappas!