Since WhatsApp can be used to make phone calls, the question has been raised as to how much data volume the messenger actually uses. We took a close look at all WhatsApp features.
Send pictures and videos and make video calls. All of these are things for which we use WhatsApp – but they also put a strain on the data volume. TECHBOOK has tested for you what WhatsApp uses the most data for and which functions are harmless.
Calls with WhatsApp load the data volume
Unlike calls made over the cellular network, WhatsApp calls do not charge the free minutes account. WhatsApp uses IP telephony instead (also Voice over IP, short VOIP) used to make phone calls over the Internet. Calls can therefore be made either via WiFi or mobile internet, consuming part of the data volume in the case of the latter. Those who only have a small data volume can remain calm: the amount of data that WhatsApp calls consume is relatively small at around 0.3 megabytes (MB) per minute. The situation is different with video calls, which can easily consume up to 5 MB per minute. With a data volume of approx. 500 MB, more than half is used up after an hour.
To save data volume, do not record videos with WhatsApp
As many already know, WhatsApp compresses images and videos before sending them to use less data volume. It doesn’t matter whether you take the pictures directly with the WhatsApp camera or with the phone’s camera app. The images that were previously shot with the camera app have a slightly higher resolution than the images from the WhatsApp camera. However, the difference in size is only a few kilobytes and is therefore irrelevant for the data volume.
The situation is different with videos that are sent via Messenger. We recorded a one-minute video once with the smartphone’s camera app and once with WhatsApp and then sent it. The astonishing result: The WhatsApp video arrived at the recipient almost twice as large as the video that we previously made with the camera app. Although we filmed pre-recorded video in Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels), it arrived at the receiver with a resolution of just 640 x 352 pixels and was 14.5MB in size. However, we sent the WhatsApp video in HD resolution (1280 x 720 pixels). As a result, it was almost twice as large on the receiving device at 27.5 MB as the video originally filmed in Full HD.
Also interesting: What data can I send via WhatsApp?
WhatsApp data consumption at a glance
- A 10-minute voice call uses approximately 3 MB of data. If the messenger’s saving function is active, consumption falls to around 1.7 MB for the same number of minutes
- A 10-minute video call takes around 47 MB. Here, too, consumption can be reduced by a full 10 MB with the saver function
- Photos and videos that are sent or forwarded are maximum 16 MB in size. This corresponds to a video length of around 90 seconds to 3 minutes. This does not apply to videos that you record directly with WhatsApp. In our test, these could be up to 28 MB in size.
- Voice messages consume just under 0.2 MB per minute
- Text messages are very economical at around 1 KB and don’t grow in size even if they contain emojis
- WhatsApp also supports sending documents. The consumption depends on the size of the file, it is allowed up to 100MB in size being.