MTN Nigeria says most of the data that seems to vanish is used by phone settings, not taken by the network. At a forum in Abuja on Monday, the company named WhatsApp auto-downloads, apps running in the background and high-quality video as the main causes. Five settings on your phone control all of them, and changing them takes about five minutes.
That does not settle the bigger complaint about network quality. The heads of MTN, Airtel, Glo and Mafab have been called before a House of Representatives committee at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Whatever happens there, these settings are yours to change now.
What did MTN say?
At the “Data on Trial” forum, held alongside the Nigerian Economic Summit on Oct. 26, Mike Ndukwe, MTN Nigeria’s General Manager of Network Performance, said phones left on default settings quietly use data. “If your WhatsApp is set on auto-download, straight away it hits your data bundle,” he said. “We’re not stealing your data.”
Chief executive Karl Toriola defended data prices by pointing to running costs. He said MTN spent about N4.05 trillion on power in the previous year.
What uses the most data on a phone?
Video, by a wide margin. A 15-second TikTok clip can use anywhere from 2 MB to 20 MB depending on its quality, according to figures shared at the forum. Half an hour of scrolling adds up fast. After video come:
- Messaging apps that download every photo and video people send you
- Apps refreshing in the background while you are not using them
- Phone updates and photo backups running on mobile data
- A hotspot left on, with another device using your bundle
Change 1: Stop WhatsApp downloading everything
- Open WhatsApp and go to Settings, then Storage and data.
- Under Media auto-download, tap When using mobile data.
- Untick photos, audio, video and documents, then tap OK.
Messages still arrive. Photos and videos just wait until you tap them, so you decide what is worth your data.
Change 2: Turn on Data Saver or Low Data Mode
On Android: open Settings, then Network and internet (on Samsung, Connections, then Data usage), and turn on Data Saver. This stops most apps from using data in the background. Menus look slightly different on Tecno, Infinix, Samsung and other brands, but “Data Saver” is almost always the name.
On iPhone: open Settings, then Mobile Data (called Cellular on some iPhones), tap Mobile Data Options, then Data Mode, and choose Low Data Mode.
Change 3: Lower video quality in TikTok, YouTube and Instagram
Each of these apps has a data-saving switch in its settings. In TikTok, look under Settings and privacy for Data Saver. In YouTube, look under Settings for Video quality preferences and choose Data saver on mobile networks. In Instagram, look under Settings for Data usage and media quality.
Change 4: Keep updates and backups on Wi-Fi only
Phone updates and photo backups can use gigabytes. On Android, set Google Play to update apps over Wi-Fi only and set Google Photos backup to Wi-Fi. On iPhone, open Settings, then App Store, and switch off automatic downloads on mobile data. Leave iCloud Photos off mobile data too.
Change 5: Check who is on your hotspot
If you share data with a laptop or another phone, turn the hotspot off when you finish and set a password. A laptop connected to a phone hotspot will happily download its own updates from your bundle.
Is MTN right?
Partly. These settings use real data, and changing them will make a bundle last longer for most people. They do not explain data disappearing while a phone sits idle, or calls dropping and pages crawling. Phones and networks also count usage differently: MTN said the two records can differ by 2% to about 12%. If your phone’s own counter and your MTN balance are much further apart than that, you have something worth raising.
That is the kind of question lawmakers say they will put to the operators on Wednesday.
What to do next
- Make the five changes today.
- For one week, compare the data counter in your phone’s settings with your balance in the MyMTN app. Screenshot both each day.
- If the gap is large, ask MTN for your usage history, as the Nigerian Communications Commission advises. If MTN does not resolve it, call the NCC’s toll-free line, 622.
Primary source: NCC guidance on monitoring data usage
Sources: Nairametrics, Oct. 27, 2026; Legit.ng, Oct. 2026; Vanguard, Oct. 2026; Nigerian Communications Commission consumer guidance.
