# Data saver

> Every row on the Data saver screen: what arms it, and the three answers each network feature can have while the connection is metered.

URL: https://wmkeyboard.pages.dev/reference/settings/data-saver/
Section: Reference

The Data saver screen is three groups: what turns data saving on, the
fetches the keyboard makes on its own, and the ones you start yourself. The
last two only appear once something has turned data saving on. With **Save
data now** off and **Turn on by itself** left at **Only when I turn it on**,
the screen shows just the first group. This page is the field reference. For
what it's for and how the ask-first answer behaves in practice, start at
[Data saver](https://wmkeyboard.pages.dev/privacy/data-saver/).

Every row in the last two groups is a choice, not a switch. The full set of
answers is **Allow**, **Ask each time** and **Turn off**. The middle one is
missing from the "Fetched on its own" group, because those happen with no
panel on screen and nobody there to answer.

## Options

Advanced / Data saver

### When to save data

| Setting | Control | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Save data now | Toggle | Off |
| Turn on by itself | Choice of 5 | **Only when I turn it on** |

**Save data now** holds on any connection, Wi-Fi included, until you turn it
off. It's the answer to a network Android thinks is free and you know isn't,
such as a phone hotspot.

**Turn on by itself** is one of: *Only when I turn it on*, *On mobile data or
a metered network*, *Only while roaming*, *Android's Data Saver is on*, or
*Any of these*. Roaming is the strictest: it needs the connection to be
metered **and** roaming, so a roaming-flagged Wi-Fi bridge that costs
nothing doesn't fire it.

### Fetched on its own

Advanced / Data saver / Fetched on its own

| Setting | Control | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Link previews | Allow / Turn off | **Turn off** |
| Word look-ups | Allow / Turn off | **Turn off** |
| Photo backgrounds | Allow / Turn off | **Turn off** |
| Weather chip | Allow / Turn off | **Turn off** |
| Exchange rates | Allow / Turn off | **Allow** |
| Add-on updates | Allow / Turn off | **Turn off** |

These are applied by hiding the matching setting while data saving is in
force, so the feature's own screen still shows what you chose and gets it
back the moment you're on Wi-Fi. **Link previews** covers both the clipboard
and the QR scanner in one row. **Photo backgrounds** clears the **Use mobile
data** switch in a theme's Online photos group, so one answer reaches both
the rotation and the pool top-up. **Exchange rates** is the one allowed by
default: a few hundred bytes, cached for hours, and a converter showing last
week's rate is worse than the fetch.

### Started by you

Advanced / Data saver / Started by you

| Setting | Control | Default |
|---|---|---|
| GIFs and stickers | Allow / Ask each time / Turn off | **Allow** |
| Web and image search | Allow / Ask each time / Turn off | **Allow** |
| Animated emoji | Allow / Ask each time / Turn off | **Ask each time** |
| Downloads | Allow / Ask each time / Turn off | **Ask each time** |
| Cloud AI | Allow / Ask each time / Turn off | **Allow** |
| Transcription server | Allow / Ask each time / Turn off | **Allow** |
| Online grammar check | Allow / Turn off | **Allow** |
| Song recognition online | Allow / Ask each time / Turn off | **Ask each time** |
| Speed test | Allow / Ask each time / Turn off | **Ask each time** |

At **Ask each time**, the panel says why it's empty and carries a **Use
mobile data** button. Tapping it allows that one feature until the network
changes or the keyboard restarts. At **Turn off**, nothing is offered.

**GIFs and stickers** never touches your own sticker packs, which are files
on the phone. **Web and image search** is one answer for both, since someone
who doesn't want search on mobile data doesn't want half of it either.
**Animated emoji** holds the looping preview in the long-press popup, and
treats pressing **Send** as the yes. **Downloads** covers language data,
dictionaries, emoji keyword packs, add-ons and the on-device speech and
language models, and it's where the old **Ask before downloading on mobile
data** and **Only download over Wi-Fi** switches went. **Cloud AI** never
holds an on-device model, which costs nothing to reach, and it also covers the
[sticker generator's online engines](https://wmkeyboard.pages.dev/emoji/sticker-generator/#engines), where
the second press of **Generate** is the yes. **Transcription
server** has no panel to put a button on, so at **Ask each time** the voice
panel says why it stopped and the next press of the microphone is the yes.
**Song recognition online** holds the clip [Music ID](https://wmkeyboard.pages.dev/tools/music-id/) would send to
a recognition service, a few hundred kilobytes per tap on Listen; at **Ask each
time** the panel says so and offers **Use data**.
**Online grammar check** holds [LanguageTool](https://wmkeyboard.pages.dev/smart/grammar/#checkers-harper-and-languagetool)
and offers no **Ask each time**, since a check goes out after every pause in
typing; held, Harper keeps checking English on the phone.

## Details & edge cases

- **Any row you've changed grows a restore button.** Same as everywhere else
  in Settings; see [Putting one setting back](https://wmkeyboard.pages.dev/reference/settings/#putting-one-setting-back).
- **The keyboard and the settings app ask separately.** A yes given to a
  panel doesn't carry into a download you start from a settings screen, and
  the other way round.
- **Model downloads keep their size thresholds.** With **Downloads** set to
  **Allow**, a Whisper model at about 150 MB or an on-device AI model at
  about 500 MB still confirms on a metered connection. That prompt is older
  than this screen and independent of it.
- **Add-ons keep a switch of their own.** **Only on Wi-Fi**, on the
  Add-ons screen, is separate from the **Add-on updates** row here. Either
  one holding is enough to skip the automatic refresh a visit would make.
- **Nothing here is a permission.** Data saving decides whether a fetch is
  worth its bytes, not whether the feature is allowed to exist. Turning a
  tool off entirely is Tools.