Twitter’s new Data Saver feature does what it says on the tin

If you’re on Twitter and like to have full control over data usage on your smartphone, then a new Data Saver mode will be of interest.

Introduced as part of an iOS and Android update on Wednesday, October 3, the new feature allows you to access it by tapping on your profile picture, then Settings, and finally Data Usage. At the top of the page you’ll see the Data Saver option, which you enable by tapping.

Data Saver prevents videos from autoplaying and purposely loads lower-quality images. Should you want to see a particular image in higher resolution, you simply tap on the picture, then on the three dots at the top right of the display, and finally on “load high quality.”

If you happen to be on a restricted or low-data plan, Data Saver is a sure-fire way to keep your Twitter data usage down and, if you’re a particularly heavy user of the social media app, perhaps give you some peace of mind toward the end of the month.

Data Saver makes the app a little more like Twitter Lite, the bare-bones version of Twitter built for developing markets, where data caps and slow connections can be more of an issue for users. In fact, should data — and storage for that matter — be an issue for you, then the so-called “lite” versions of apps are the way to go, if you can get hold of them. Twitter Lite, for example, uses less than 1MB of storage, and minimizes data usage via a number of data-saving features.

Twitter’s latest update also makes a few other changes, including a simpler way to manage who’s in your group messages, improvements to how people interact with polls using VoiceOver, and improved labels for certain types of ads.

Whether you’re a long-time Twitter user or just getting started, Digital Trends has some great ideas on how to get the most out of the microblogging app, how to save tweets using its bookmarking tool, suggestions for accounts to follow, and, if you really must, how to change your Twitter name. Alternatively, if it’s been invading your life and you want to take back control, here’s how to delete your Twitter account.