As you know Nigerians pay exorbitant fees for data services owing to the high cost and complexities of moving international bandwidth capacity lying idle on the coastline across the nooks and crannies of the nation. You will agree with me that a 4GB of data(on MTN) cost N10,000. And the rate at which your mobile data plan is exhausted before the stipulated time is nothing to write home about.

But here you will get to know how to reduce your mobile data usage with apps that do not change the way your smartphone works and save yourself a lot of cash. These apps just stand between you and the Internet, squishing your data down so it uses as little space as possible before travelling over your cellular carriers mobile data network. They work by routing your data by way of a third-party server. That is, instead of a visiting a website's server directly to download a webpage, the apps connect to the site's server through a third-party server to download the webpage, compress it and then send it to you. That way they help you to reduce your mobile data where it really counts.

Opera Max
Opera Max encrypt data for all apps on your phone when you are connected to a mobile data network. Download and install Opera Max from Google Play Store. It will route all apps traffic via opera's own servers, and compressed to save your phone's data. Opera Max is able to compress photos, web pages, videos etc.. It also allows you to track those apps guzzling your cellular mobile data.Block them from using it.

Onavo Extend
Another app that saves your mobile data plan is Facebook's Onavo Extend. It runs in your Android smartphone's background and directs all of your phone mobile data traffic through Onavo's servers .While it doesn't compress videos unlike the one above, it is still one of the best apps to save data.

Chrome's Reduce Data Feature
This feature can be found in Google Chrome app and saves data while your surf the web using Chrome web browser. To enable this feature: Get the chrome app on your smartphone, open it and tap the menu button, and click settings. Scroll to bandwidth management>Reduce data usage and activate it. You are done.

Opera's Off-Road Mode/Operamini
Yet another best app to save mobile data is using Opera browser to surf the web as they all come with this feature. Just like Google Chrome Reduce Data feature, it saves your data only when you are browsing with opera. This could help save you on data when tethering.

My Data Manager
This app is compatible with iOS devices running 7.0 or later and help you control your mobile data usage. There's an overview to help you track your data everyday---so that you don't go out of line.

For more tips visit www.wearobo.com

I have tried Opera MAX and Onavo Extend but prefer NEOPARD as it is the only app that I know that can save on Facebook.
I use it for few weeks and save around 30% on my data plan.
I recommend to try NEOPARD data saver for Android.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.exalinks.neopard

I dont bother much with images and videos, all on demand if i need to.
At the stock browser i tick block images, same at firefox and opera browser.
I read much to watching movies and videos

Yeah. Opera max is pretty good. I have it installed and it's really doing the job.