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Is there a way to find out what are the most tapped areas on an iPhone screen, by percentage?

Does the users tend to tap more the elements that are placed in the bottom part of the screen, because it feels more naturally due to the hand position when holding it, or does the eye play a major role on guiding the user torwards the elements on the upper part?

Have there been tests conducted on the matter?

Thanks! :)

alengton
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    You asked for iPhones but accepted an answer about smartphones in general. I guess your question should be edited, making it not specific to iPhones. What do you think? – unor Nov 22 '13 at 00:17

1 Answers1

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This study of 1,333 people has some great information on how users hold their phones, and which areas of the screen are most accessible.

Their data showed that people held their phones in 3 basic ways

one handed — 49%

cradled — 36%

two handed — 15%

The accessibility heatmaps looked like the following:

Single Hand

single hand heatmap

Cradling in Two Hands

enter image description here

Two-Handed Use

enter image description here

There is a lot more detail available in their article.

Community
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    Something to be aware of is that this data is from users using existing apps/interfaces, this means the data is based on existing layouts of buttons/interface items and doesn't necessarily represent if users prefer certain locations over others. – bendataclear Nov 18 '13 at 18:28
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    This is also an Android Samsung Galaxy S3 in the image. I doubt an Iphone would be much different, though. :P – AlbeyAmakiir Nov 18 '13 at 22:07
  • @AlbeyAmakiir it will be different IMO considering the size of the phone. I would expect more 'one handed' use on the iPhone than the Galaxy. Also important is what is being done. One handed vs cradle browsing is dependent on size but typing would more likely be two handed, no matter what size the device is. – Nivas Nov 19 '13 at 02:39
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    @AlbeyAmakiir The results in the article are aggregated over all phone types and the author didn't attempt to identify phone types. Since the data was collected by observing people using their phones in public the device proportions in it are probably similar to those where it was collected. That location doesn't appear to specified; but from the authors resume is probably somewhere in the USA where both iOS and Android have significant shares of the market. – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Nov 19 '13 at 14:45