Is 50 gb a lot of storage?
If you primarily use your device for basic tasks such as web browsing and document editing, 50 GB should be more than sufficient. However, if you are a professional photographer, videographer, or avid gamer, you may find that 50 GB is not enough and may need to consider larger storage options.
The bottom line is that 50GB of data would be sufficient to browse the internet for approximately 600 hours, stream 10,000 songs online or watch 100 hours of standard-definition videos.
Yes, 50 GB would be able to support a professional working from home or a small family and is considered heavy usage. If you were to use 50 GB of data for a month what would it look like though? You could spend 2,500 hours browsing the internet which seems like a good many hours if that is mainly what you do.
With your 50GB of data, you'll be able to browse the internet for approximately 600 hours per month, to stream 10,000 songs online or to watch 100 hours of online video in standard definition.
Using basic video quality could roughly triple the hours of streaming possible with 50 GB of data. If one device streams two hours of Netflix a day, that totals about 14 hours a week, or nearly 60 hours a month. However, streaming Netflix isn't the only data consumption for most internet users.
If you have 50GB free, that's enough room for 25,000 JPEG photos at an average of 2MB each. That same space can only fit about 2,000 RAW images. This may seem like a lot, but remember that you can't do much with these photos until they are edited and saved as a different file type.
Apple's cheapest nonfree tier gives you 50GB of space -- 10 times the amount of free space, priced at $1 (£1, AU$1.49) per month. Typically, this plan is a good choice for those who need a bit of extra wiggle room in their digital filing cabinets, or don't want to have to worry about running out of space so soon.
Streaming Movies or TV
(30 fps is the standard frame rate for most movies in the United States.) A 1080p HD 60 fps 2-hour movie averages 6 GB in file size. A 1080p HD 30 fps 2-hour movie averages 3 GB in file size. A 720p HD 2-hour movie averages 2 GB in file size.
How much data does an average internet user consume per month? The average internet user consumes 533.8GB per month on their home internet plan, according to a recent report from OpenVault. The number of internet users who consume more than 500GB each month is steadily climbing each year.
A 50GB Blu-ray disc can store approximately 3 hours of HD video plus 9 hours of standard definition bonus material. Using any of the advanced video compression format, these numbers can be significantly increased.
How long should 50GB take?
| File size | Broadband speed | |
|---|---|---|
| 10Mb | 50Mb | |
| 10GB | 2.2 hours | 26.6 mins |
| 50GB | 11.1 hours | 2.2 hours |
| 100GB | 22.2 hours | 4.4 hours |
Activities that use a lot of data
Video conferencing, like FaceTime® and Skype® (480MB per hour) Standard-definition video streaming (240MB per hour) Online interactive gaming (60MB per hour) Streaming music (30MB per hour)
For most trips, 3GB or 5GB of data will be enough to cover common internet usage. However, if you plan on using the internet more or traveling for a month or longer, you might want to consider cards with up to 7GB of data.
50GB is most ideal for those who: Watch a lot of high-quality videos and movies whilst not connected to Wi-Fi. Download and stream music often whilst out and about. Play games online.
If the photos are high-resolution and of the highest quality, then each may take up 5MB of storage. Using this rough estimate, 1000 pictures would take between about 500MB and 5000MB of storage. This is the equivalent of 0.5GB to 5GB. Overall, 1000 pictures may take anywhere from 0.5GB to 5GB of storage.
- Go to Settings, then tap your name.
- Tap iCloud, then tap Manage Account Storage or Manage Storage. Or scroll down and tap Upgrade to iCloud+.
- Tap Buy More Storage or Change Storage Plan.
- Choose a plan and follow the onscreen instructions.
| Capacity 1 | Approximate number of photos (12MP) | Approximate number of photos (24MP - Uncompressed RAW) |
|---|---|---|
| 64GB | 53,571 | 800 |
| 32GB | 26,786 | 400 |
| 16GB | 13,393 | 200 |
| 8GB | 6,696 | 100 |
Naturally, when you turn off iCloud Photos on your Apple device, you won't be able to access the files stored on the cloud storage. However, many people wonder if they will lose access to all photos or if all pictures will be deleted from iCloud storage. The answer is NO!
You have 30 days to renew your plan or download your information/photos. After 30 days, if you haven't paid, everything will be deleted. Nothing will be deleted. Everything will be safely stored on the cloud, but new content will remain on your device without the option to sync it.
What happens when you downgrade or cancel iCloud+ If your iCloud storage exceeds your new storage plan capacity, iCloud won't sync or update your information. iCloud will be updated again when you increase your storage capacity or delete information to make more space.
How much GB do I use on my phone?
Find data usage settings on your iPhone or Android
To view how much data you're going through, dive into the settings of your iPhone or Android phone. Find the "cellular" or "network/internet" section, and look at overall data usage and data by the app.
If you are watching a high-definition stream, you can expect to use 3-4 GB per hour. If you are watching a standard-definition stream, you can expect to use 1-2 GB per hour. And if you are watching an HD stream on a 4K TV, you can expect to use 7-10 GB per hour.
| Activity | Time duration with 1GB* |
|---|---|
| Browsing the internet | 16.6 hours |
| Listening to music | Spotify 92.5 hours (24kbps) 23 hours (96kbps) 13 hours (160kbps) 6.9 hours (320kbps) |
| Watching Netflix | 1 hour (standard definition) 0.3 hours (HD) / 18 minutes |
How much data do I use? Ofcom's Communications Market Report 2022 said that the average person used 5.6GB of data per month in 2021. This was up by 24% on 2020's 4.5GB per month. In fact, mobile data use has increased by roughly 20-30% every year since 2016.
Turn off data fetching and close background apps
If you're wondering why your data is being used so fast, it could be because your phone is using data in the background that you don't even know about. That's right; your phone could be in another room to you and still be using data.
With 25GB of data, you could stream audio for a very long time each month, though it's unlikely you'd find time to listen to 578 hours of music! Needless to say, you would have more than enough data to browse the internet and social media. You'd also have plenty of room to watch videos too.
A 100 Gb of data plan will allow you to browse the internet for around 1200 hours, Stream 20,000 songs, or watch 200 hours of standard-definition videos.
It provides enough data to watch about an hour's worth of video every few days, plus using your phone out and about – whether this be streaming music on the go, navigating with Google Maps, or having video calls with friends. 40GB isn't enough to cover constant phone usage, or watching Netflix on a daily basis.
Messages are considered texts and don't count toward your data usage. Your data usage is also free when you turn on chat features. Learn how to turn on chat features (RCS). Tip: You can send texts over Wi-Fi even if you don't have cell service.
Updating and downloading apps are the two obvious ones, but there's a lot of death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts kind of data drains too. Try to save your streaming, online gaming, and TikTok scrolling for when you're connected to Wi-Fi.
Why is my phone using data when I'm not on it?
A lot of apps will quietly run in the background, which can drain your battery and burn lots of mobile data. Consider deleting apps that do this regularly, or (on Android) use some advanced options in Developer Mode to limit background processes.
As a general rule of thumb, it's recommended to keep at least 20% of your hard drive free to ensure your system runs smoothly. This provides enough space for temporary files, system file growth, and system backups.
For the average user, as stated by Ofcom, 10GB is plenty of data to play with for the month, perfect for keeping yourself entertained and occupied while commuting. Most likely, your phone battery will run out before your data does, so find out how to prolong it to keep using your data whenever you need it.
On an 8GB mobile data plan allowance, you'll be able to indulge in around six hours of web browsing per day. Alternatively, 8GB should be good for around an hour of medium quality Netflix streaming per day, or around 4 hours of music streaming on normal quality.
As mentioned above, TikTok video streaming takes up around 840MB of data in an hour. So, it will drain 4GBs in less than five hours. And if you are a heavy user, you can reach five hours of watch time or 4GBs in a day or maybe two.
According to Netflix, you use about 1GB of data per hour for streaming a TV show or movie in standard definition and up to 3GB of data per hour when streaming HD video. Nevertheless, you can change the data usage settings in your Netflix account to reduce the bandwidth Netflix uses and hence lower data consumption.
The typical unlimited data package includes unlimited minutes, unlimited messages, and unlimited high-speed data (up to a specified data ceiling). This high-speed data allowance is usually 22–23 gigabytes (GB).
If you subscribe to a monthly plan that automatically recurs every 30 days, you have 720-744 hours on your hand. This means that 150GB of data can last for a month even if you use it non-stop. Simply saying, after buying a package of 150GBs, you won't require Wi-Fi for any of your needs.
| 200GB | 500GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Video streaming | 2 hours per day (HD)8 hours (SD) | 4 hours per day (HD)16 hours per day (SD) |
| Music streaming | 1 hour per day | 6 hours per day |
| Emails | 50 per day | 200 per day |
| Gaming | 1 hour per day | 4 hours per day |
Some online activities consume a lot more data than other online activities. Some of the most data-intensive things you can do include: Streaming audio or video, either on the web or through an app. Downloading large files like music or videos.
What apps eat up data?
- Streaming apps such as Netflix, Stan, Disney+ and BINGE.
- Social media apps such as Tik Tok, Facebook and Instagram.
- GPS and ridesharing apps such as Uber, DiDi and Maps.
In most cases, if you go over your data limit, your ISP will charge you a fee to add additional data to your plan. This fee ranges depending on your provider, but many internet providers charge about $10 for an additional 50 GB of data. Other ISPs will throttle or slow down your speed once you've reached a data cap.
Most light users will do fine with the 50GB storage plan. If you need a lot of cloud storage, 200GB should be more than enough for you and your family.
| File size | Broadband speed | |
|---|---|---|
| 10Mb | 35Mb | |
| 1GB | 13.3 mins | 3.8 mins |
| 10GB | 2.2 hours | 38.1 mins |
| 50GB | 11.1 hours | 3.2 hours |
Buy More Space. Getting more iCloud storage space is straightforward and can be done through your iPhone or iPad. To get more storage, select “manage storage” in the iCloud settings. Now, select “change storage plan.” Here you will be presented with a selection of upgrade options ranging from 50GB to 2TB of storage.
With 50GB of data (or 50,000MB) you're looking at several hours of music streaming, several hours of web browsing and a couple of movies (streamed in medium quality) every day.
128GB: enough for basic use. 256GB: enough for the average user. 512GB: store your entire photo, video, and movie collection. 1TB: never worry about storage space and store photos in Apple ProRAW.
128GB and 256GB are the best options for most users.
Apps and photos are big enough now that you're going to be running out of space quickly. If you constantly use your iPhone for professional work — if you're a photographer, for example — or want it to be your main gaming device, then consider 512GB.
Store your photos and videos in iCloud
By default, your photos and videos are stored on your device in their original, high-resolution version. This means that they use a lot of space on your iPhone and iPad.
Your data should normally refresh every month or 30 days, so theoretically you have an average of 720 hours to fill a month. 100GB can last almost non-stop for the entire month, so you'd never have to connect to Wi-Fi if you didn't want to.
Is 75 GB data enough for a month?
You need at least 600 GB of data per month to comfortably do a range of activities online.
How many hours will 100GB of data last for? A 100 Gb of data plan will allow you to browse the internet for around 1200 hours, Stream 20,000 songs, or watch 200 hours of standard-definition videos. To determine the exact hours, you need to track your monthly activities online.
- Go to Settings, then tap your name.
- Tap iCloud, then tap Manage Account Storage or Manage Storage. Or scroll down and tap Upgrade to iCloud+.
- Tap Buy More Storage or Change Storage Plan.
- Choose a plan and follow the onscreen instructions.
iCloud+ 50GB A$1.49/month
Space for photos, files, backups and more. Sync and access your data across all your devices.
Impacted unlimited data customers can use unlimited amounts of data above and beyond the 50GB threshold, however, impacted customers may experience reduced speeds and delays compared to other customers. Temporary reductions in performance only occur at times and in places where network capacity is constrained.
Typically, individual apps can use between 40MB – 1GB of phone storage. If you anticipate downloading just a few key apps and the odd game, then 5GB of storage space should be plenty. If you are a pro gamer and plan to download 200+ apps and large games, then you will require 50GB of phone storage.
If you mainly store text files and photos, 512GB of storage space is enough. Do you want to save movies, games, and other large files on your PC? Choose at least 1TB of storage space. That way, you can last some time without the risk of your laptop filling up.
