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Research Outline

Prepared for Simona R. | Delivered October 2, 2019

Mobile Phone Usage Data

Goals

To understand how and how often people use their mobile phones, including information such as which apps are used most frequently, how many hours per day are spent using mobile phones, what smartphone features are most used, etc. Data should be presented for the United States, India, and the world.

Early Findings

GLOBAL

GENERAL USAGE DATA
  • On average, smartphone users throughout the world check their phone 63 times each day, and 86 percent are willing to check their phones while talking to friends or family.
  • In total, the average smartphone user spends two hours and 51 minutes each day on their phone, including time spent making calls, sending messages, checking emails, and/or using various apps or games.
  •  A full 87 percent of smartphone users check their phone at least once within an hour of waking up or going to sleep, while 69 percent check their phones within five minutes of waking up.
  • Globally, there are 2.7 million smartphone users.
  •  More than half of the time people check their phones take place while they're at work. "We lose at least 37.5 minutes of working time per day to just picking up our phones".
MULTI-SCREEN USAGE
  • A full "90 percent of multiple screen users use multiple screens sequentially to accomplish a task over time".
  • The most common activities conducted when using multiple screens simultaneously are browsing the internet, social networking, online shopping, searching for information, managing finances, trip planning, and/or watching videos.
APP USAGE
  • "The average user spends one hour and 16 minutes" on social media applications.
  • "We spend 90 percent of media time on mobile devices in apps and 10 percent on the mobile web."
  • In 2018, more than 208 billion apps were downloaded worldwide, and that number is expected to reach 258.2 billion by 2022.
  • "Nearly 25 percent of all mobile apps are game apps—2.5 times the number of business apps."
  • A full 35 percent of smartphone users do not have any games on their phone.
  • Alternatively, the most popular type of app are web browsers, followed by communication- and social-based apps.
  • "Smartphone users spend 38 percent of their mobile app time in social networking & music apps."
  • For millennials specifically, the most popular apps are Amazon, Gmail, and Facebook.
  •  Globally - and regardless of age or any other factor - the most popular mobile app is WhatsApp, followed by Facebook and Facebook Messenger.

UNITED STATES

GENERAL USAGE DATA
  • The United States is ranked number three globally for most cell phone usage, just behind China and Brazil.
  • In total, 77 percent of American adults own a smartphone.
  • The average adult in the United States spends two hours and 55 minutes on their mobile phone each day. Of that time,
APP USAGE
  • In 2018, the most popular mobile app in the United States was Youtube.
  • In the United States, users are "consistently spending the bulk of their time using apps over web browsers, with the average person spending 2:57 in apps vs. 0:26 on a mobile browser".