For many technology-obsessed Britons, a moment without your smartphone in sight can feel like a lifetime.
Now, researchers have delved into the apps that have us glued to our devices.
A survey of 2,000 adults revealed that the average Briton has 29 apps installed on their phone.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, two Meta apps – WhatsApp and Facebook – top the list as the most popular, closely followed by Google Maps.
However, despite having 29 downloaded on average, we only use just over a third (38 per cent) of the apps on our smartphones.
A survey of 2,000 adults revealed that the average Briton has 29 apps installed on their device
The survey, which was commissioned by Chatloop, revealed just 11 apps are used on a daily basis.
The others are just picked up as and when they are needed.
And a quarter (26 per cent) of Britons find their apps are automatically removed from their phone due to inactivity without them even noticing they’re gone.
It’s easy to find out how many apps you have installed on your smartphone.
If you’re an iPhone user, simply open the Settings app, then tap General and About.
Scroll down to Applications, and you’ll be able to see the number of third party apps installed on your iPhone.
Meanwhile, on an Android device, open the Settings app, before tapping Apps & Notifications.
You should find ‘See all X apps’ – with X being the number installed on your Android.
As of January 2023, the most popular mobile app in the UK was WhatsApp, with a staggering audience reach of 86.6 per cent, according to Statista.
This was followed by Facebook (78.4 per cent reach), Google Maps (70.4 per cent), YouTube (69.9 per cent) and Facebook Messenger (69.5 per cent).
The survey, which was commissioned by Chatloop, revealed just 11 apps are used on a daily basis. The others are just picked up as and when they are needed (stock image)
Rounding out the top 10 were Instagram, Amazon, Gmail, Google Play Store and Google Play Services.
The survey also found half (49 per cent) find it annoying to switch from different apps to perform the same task, such as reading reviews on one to buy the product on another.
More than 300 links are estimated to be sent during the average year between friends and family, with 21 per cent of people sharing links about products they’d like an opinion on before buying.
A quarter also send them about news related to interests, such as the transfer news of a favourite football team, and 23 per cent sharing links to events.
Chatloop is a mobile app that lets people loop in their friends to content on any website, removing the need to switch between multiple apps.
Andrew Barlow, CEO at Chatloop said: ‘The research indicates that many people are facing “app overwhelm” due to the sheer number of apps on their phones that offer specific functions.
‘[This means] people are spending lots of time switching between multiple apps and copying and pasting links from one app to another.’
