How much data does a WhatsApp call use? It’s a question that a lot of people in South Africa have been asking themselves. WhatsApp is the most popular instant messaging application in the country. At the moment, there are over 23 million people who use it. Most people use WhatsApp for both calls and for instant messaging. If you fall into this bracket, you may be wondering how much data you are going to need in order to make a WhatsApp call. That’s the information that is contained in this article;
What’s the data usage for WhatsApp calls
The table below shows the amount of data that you need in order to make WhatsApp audio and video calls;
| Per minute | Per 30 minutes | Per hour | |
|---|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp Audio Call | 0.4 MB | 12 MB | 24 MB |
| WhatsApp Video Call | 5 MB | 150 MB | 300 MB |
WhatsApp calls are cheaper
WhatsApp calls have become the preferred means of communication for people in South Africa because they tend to be way cheaper than calling using airtime. But how cheap are they?
According to Business Insider, a WhatsApp call can be up to 90 percent cheaper than traditional calling. That’s great for people looking to make savings.
To illustrate the point, a WhatsApp call can cost as little as R0.04 per minute. By comparison, calling using airtime costs around R0.70 per minute on average. So, the savings are rather huge.
You need to have stable internet
So far we have answered the question, how much data does a WhatsApp call use. It was noted that a call on WhatsApp uses 0.4 Mb of data per minute. We also noted that people now prefer WhatsApp calling because it is way cheaper.
The one major challenge is that you need to have stable internet for a WhatsApp call, which is not always available in all parts of the country. There are areas where the network sometimes drops. In that case, you will be forced to call the traditional way.
Another catch is that the person who you are calling also needs to be on WhatsApp. If they are not, then you are not going to be able to reach them this way. They also need to have data in their phones for your call to get through.
Can you get free data on Cell C?
You can save data on WhatsApp calls
We have highlighted the amount of data that is used by WhatsApp on video and audio calls. It was noted that in South Africa, calling via WhatsApp is cheaper. Having said that, it’s worth pointing out that you can reduce the amount of data that’s used on WhatsApp calls even further. The following is how to do it;
- Open WhatsApp and click the three dots to the top right of your screen.
- Click on Settings.
- Open Storage and data.
- Toggle the switch in front of Use less data for calls to on.
Summary
This article was dedicated to answering the question, how much data does a WhatsApp call use. It was noted that WhatsApp is very popular in South Africa. In fact, over 58% of people with smartphones in the country have WhatsApp installed on their devices.
If you are one of these, then using the call feature is a great way of reaching out to friends and family. Here we were talking about both video and audio calling. Obviously video calling demands way more data and it also demands a far more stable internet connection.
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