Popular free iPhone and Android apps have a hidden cost - check your settings now

Unless you have an unlimited data plan, you'll need to keep a close eye on how much you are getting through each month. Adding one-off bolt-ons to accounts can be hugely expensive, and running out means no access to vital services such as WhatsApp, Google Maps or email when away from Wi-Fi.

If you constantly find yourself with no data in the bank at the end of the month, there could be a very simple reason why.

According to the team at TRG Datacenters, we are all ploughing through more data than ever, with the average phone user now consuming over 11GB per month - that's a 40% increase from just two years ago.

As you might expect, the biggest drain is apps - especially those that show video content.

TRG Datacenters has now revealed its top 10 list of applications that will munch through that monthly allowance, and YouTube comes out on top.

This popular video platform is then followed by Twitch, Snapchat, TikTok, Threads and Netflix.

It's probably no surprise to hear that content streaming platforms are the worst offenders, but TRG Datacenters also says that many apps - including YouTube - are also munching through data when not being used.

"The mobile app that uses the most data is YouTube, with 69.4K megabytes per hour, and over 90% of it is spent on background usage," TRG Datacenters explained.

It is easy to turn off background usage of any app in the settings, and it's definitely worth considering if you find you keep running out.

Here are the top 10 apps for data based on average user usage.

YouTube

Twitch

Snapchat

TikTok

Threads

Netflix

Instagram

Facebook

Telegram

Pinterest

As a guide, if you have a data plan with 1GB of usage, it would take less than 2 hours of high-quality YouTube streaming to run out.

Speaking about the study, a spokesperson from TRG Datacenters said: “People often don’t realise that the apps eating up their data plans aren't necessarily the ones they're actively using.

"Background data consumption has become a hidden drain on mobile plans, with many popular apps continuously syncing content, updating feeds, and preloading videos even when you're not looking at your phone. T

"his creates a particularly frustrating scenario for users on limited data plans who find themselves hitting their monthly caps despite feeling like they haven't been streaming that much content, when in reality, their apps have been quietly consuming data around the clock.”

Both Android and iPhone devices let you check data usage and which apps are the worst offenders so it's worth checking to see what's been chewing through your allowance as it could save you buying more data.