Chrome browser on Android introduces update to help users save 70% of data

App will now stop downloading images when the phone realises that it’s on a slow connection

Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome, speaks at Google's annual developer conference, Google I/O, in San Francisco on 28 June 2012 (KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/GettyImages)

Chrome on Android is adding a small update that Google claims will save up to 70 per cent of data.

Phones will now remove most images if they know that they are on a slow connection. The company claims that the feature can save huge amounts of data — and therefore money for people who are on limited data plans — by stopping people from having to download images that they don’t need to see.

Users will still be able pictures if they choose the “load images” option that will pop up at the bottom of the screen, or individual pictures can be selected and downloaded. And the feature will only kick in when people are on slow connections.

Google claimed in a blogpost that cutting out pictures can save “up to 70 per cent” of data. Google’s Chrome browser gives the option to see exactly how much data has been saved, as shown on a graph.

The feature will first be rolled out in India and Indonesia, and then be pushed to other countries

Data Saver can be turned on from the Android setting. It can cause some problems — such as stopping websites from being able to tell where users are, and causing problems with private or internal websites — but can also cut huge amounts of extra data use.