If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably found yourself on Reddit more times than you’d care to admit. But here’s the thing: all that scrolling comes at a cost—literally. Not just in time but in data usage.
Luckily, there are a few changes you can make to cut down on how much data it gobbles up.
Enable ‘Reduce Motion’
Motion effects are those slick animations that make the app feel, well, a little more alive. But while they look cool, they also eat up more data. By enabling the “Reduce Motion” setting, you can tone down all those fancy effects, which means less data is being used to load them. Plus, it gives the app a snappier feel, which is a nice bonus if you’re all about speed.
To enable this handy setting, open the Reddit app and tap your profile icon at the top right. Then tap “Settings,” scroll down to the “Accessibility” section, tap “Media and Animation,” and toggle on “Reduce Motion.”
Disable Autoplay Video Previews and Animated Images
Reddit loves to throw videos in between scrolls, and by default, they’ll start playing as soon as they appear on your screen. While this is great for instant gratification, it’s terrible for your data bill. Every time a video auto-plays, it’s pulling data to load the content—even if you end up scrolling right past it.
Reddit isn’t just about videos; it’s also a hotbed of animated images, too. Just like videos, they’ll autoplay as you scroll by, draining data whether you’re paying attention to them or not.
Luckily, there’s an easy fix. In the same settings menu where you can turn on “reduce motion,” you can set “Autoplay video previews” to “Never” and toggle off “Autoplay animated images” too.
Use Reddit in Mobile Browser Instead of the App
When you access Reddit through your mobile browser, you immediately reduce the app’s use of background data. The web version in mobile browsers doesn’t constantly refresh or load new content unless you prompt it to.
A quick tip here: if you really want to save data, you can use a browser that supports data-saving features, like Opera Mini’s “Data saving” mode. These browsers compress data before it reaches your phone, which means you’re using less bandwidth overall.
Use Old Reddit
Remember the Reddit interface from a few years back? The one that was mostly text, links, and a lot less visual clutter? Well, it’s still alive and kicking.
All you have to do is go to old.reddit.com instead of the regular reddit.com, and you’ll be transported back to a simpler, lighter version of Reddit. Not only does this version save a ton of data, but it’s also much quicker to load, especially if your connection isn’t the best.
Use RedReader (Android)
RedReader (only available on Android) is a third-party Reddit app that’s specifically designed to be lightweight and data-efficient. You can adjust the settings so it doesn’t automatically load images or videos, which is where a lot of your mobile data tends to disappear.
RedReader strips Reddit down to the basics, giving you a clean, streamlined browsing experience. As an open-source app, you can feel good knowing no shady data practices are happening behind the scenes.
Other third-party Reddit apps, such as Relay for Reddit (Android) or Infinity for Reddit (Android), offer similar lightweight experiences.
Disable Background Data
Background data is essentially what apps use when they’re not actively open on your screen. You’re not using the app, but it keeps pulling in notifications, updating content, and doing all sorts of things behind the scenes, guzzling your data in the process.
For Reddit, this means it could be pulling in new posts, refreshing messages, or updating the feed even while you’re busy with other apps or living your life. This can add up quickly, especially if you’re on a limited data plan or just trying to keep your phone from turning into a data-hungry monster. Luckily, turning off background data is pretty straightforward on Android and iOS and can save you a ton of data over time.
Disabling background data will likely affect notifications for messages, replies, or updates from your favorite subreddits. But if the trade-off is saving a chunk of your data, it’s worth considering.
