Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Code within One UI 8.5 suggests Samsung could bring a new “Adaptive data saver” feature to Galaxy phones.
- The feature works by only downloading videos in social media apps when you are “ready to watch them.”
- This feature can help users with limited mobile data plans manage their social media data usage effectively.
One UI 8.5 leaked builds include code that suggests that Samsung is working on a new “Adaptive data saver.”
Code
<string name="sec_adaptive_data_saver_title">Adaptive data saver</string>
<string name="sec_adaptive_data_saver_description">Use less data in social media apps by only downloading videos when you’re ready to watch them. In most cases, you won’t notice any change in video speed or quality.</string>According to the strings, Adaptive data saver in One UI 8.5 would allow users to use less data in social media apps. When Adaptive data saver is on, videos in social media apps will be downloaded only when “you’re ready to watch them.” There are no further details on what exactly is happening, but the description states that users won’t notice any change in video speed or quality, in most cases.
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There are several ways this could unfold. For one, it could potentially stop auto-playing video content, which would lower your data consumption as a large cache of videos won’t be downloaded.
Samsung could also target prefetching behavior in apps: apps frequently download content well in advance, by anticipating what videos a user is likely to watch next based on their preferences and watching habits. Prefetching reduces the delays between videos/content, as there is often a queue of content available to watch even if your network is slow or temporarily unavailable. However, the downside to prefetching is higher data consumption, which Adaptive data saver could tackle.
Alternatively, this setting could also alter background refresh behavior, though that seems unlikely given the description and intended use.
Many of us have unlimited data through either Wi-Fi or mobile networks (4G/5G), so we rarely bother checking how much data our daily doomscrolling sessions have consumed. However, that is not the reality for many others who have limited access to data. Many people have unlimited Wi-Fi at home and in the office, but limited data on 4G/5G, which serves as a stop-gap solution for transit and other needs. Depending on how it works, Adaptive data saver would come in handy for these people in managing their data needs for more leisurely activities, such as using social media apps.
We’ll have to wait for One UI 8.5 to officially roll out with Adaptive data saver to learn more about what it actually does and assess its utility.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
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