How much data does mobile gaming use?

Why there is no official figure

Streaming services publish data tables because they send video at known qualities. Games do not, and the help centres of Supercell and Niantic offer no figure per hour or per match. Clash Royale's App Store listing only says that a network connection is required, which also means it will not run on a plane with the phone in airplane mode.

The reason most online games are light while you play is how they work. A match mostly sends moves, positions and results between your phone and the game's servers; the graphics, music and animations are already on the phone. That is also why the heavy part arrives at other moments: when the game is installed, when it updates, and when it fetches new content. Treat any per-hour number you read elsewhere as an estimate, and use the measurement further down for your own.

Where the gigabytes really go

• Installing a game from the App Store or Google Play.
• App updates, which arrive whenever the developer releases them.
• Extra content the game downloads after you open it, such as new levels, characters or map data.
• Any video the game plays, including clips watched for in-game rewards.

The first three can each be far larger than a week of matches, and they tend to happen without asking. On an iPhone, the App Store can even fetch a new app's in-app content in the background before you open it. This guide shows how to keep app updates on Wi-Fi on both iPhone and Android.

Pokémon GO: one setting for the hotel Wi-Fi

Pokémon GO has an option made for exactly this. Download All Assets downloads all the game's available assets at once instead of bit by bit as you play. It is off by default. To use it, tap the Main Menu in Map View, then Settings at the top right, Advanced Settings, and scroll to Download All Assets.

Niantic's help centre says that downloading game data while connected to Wi-Fi will help reduce the mobile data you use when exploring your area, which is the whole point of a walking game on a trip. It also warns that the available assets change as the game's content changes, so run it again on the hotel Wi-Fi every few days, and especially before an event such as Community Day, when Niantic says it can also improve the experience.

Measure a session in 20 minutes

Your phone keeps a count per app, and that is the most reliable figure you will get. On an iPhone, go to Settings, Cellular, scroll to the bottom and tap Reset Statistics. Turn Wi-Fi off, play the way you normally play for 20 minutes, then return to the same list and read the game's line. Multiply by three for an hour. On Android the per-app list is in the network settings; this guide shows where on Pixel and Samsung phones.

Two details make the test honest. Do it after the game has finished any pending download, or the update will swamp the result. And for a game like Pokémon GO, walk somewhere new rather than staying at home, because loading unfamiliar areas is part of what it uses on a trip.

Before the flight: update, open, play once

The evening before you leave, on home Wi-Fi, update the games you will play and open each one until it reaches the main screen. Anything it still wanted to download gets done there instead of on the travel line. Then set the App Store or Google Play to update on Wi-Fi only for the trip. On an iPhone, Low Data Mode on the travel line also turns off automatic updates and downloads in the App Store, according to Apple.

For the flight itself, check which of your games work offline. Online games such as Clash Royale need a connection to play at all, so a few single-player games downloaded in advance are better company on a long flight than a match that never starts.

Tablets, consoles and cloud gaming

If the children play on a tablet connected to your phone's hotspot, the tablet will also try to update its games and apps as soon as it gets online. Turn off automatic updates on the tablet before you share the connection; this guide covers the settings. A travel eSIM that allows hotspot, as Snoozim's do, works fine for this, but every update on every device comes out of the same allowance.

Cloud gaming is a different case. Services that run the game on a server and send you the picture are streaming video, so they behave like Netflix or YouTube, not like Clash Royale. Plan them as video, or keep them for Wi-Fi.