Most US Smartphone Owners Check Phone at Least Hourly

About half of US smartphone owners check their devices several times an hour or more frequently, including 11 percent who say they check it every few minutes and 41 percent who check it a few times an hour. Another 20 percent of Americans claim to check their phones about once an hour, leaving 28 percent who check them less frequently. These data are based on a special Gallup Panel survey conducted among 15,747 US adults who say they have a smartphone.

The survey was conducted April 17-May 18 by Web and included a mail survey component for these questions. The frequency with which Americans check their smartphones essentially means that they must be keeping their smartphones by their sides during the day. The data bear that assumption out: 81 percent of smartphone users say they keep their phone near them "almost all the time during waking hours." Americans' attachment to their smartphones is so strong that 63 percent report keeping it near them at night even while sleeping.