the test
Are you addicted to your phone?
Ten statements, a minute or two. Rate each one for the last few weeks, honestly rather than hopefully. The score is worked out right here in your browser. Your answers are stored nowhere and sent nowhere.
your score
10of 60
Low. On this scale your phone is a tool you pick up and put down, and nothing here suggests it runs you. The one thing a questionnaire cannot see is the clock, and the clock sometimes disagrees.
Below the line, with some pull. This is where many people land: a few statements ring true, none of them loudly. The ones you rated highest are the ones worth watching.
Right on the line. The original study drew it at 31 for boys and 33 for girls, so whether you are over it depends on who is counting. Take that as a reason to look properly, not as a verdict.
Above the line researchers use to flag problematic use. That is not a diagnosis, and no questionnaire can give you one. It is a signal that your phone has more of a hold than you would choose, and a reason to look at the actual number: how many hours, in which apps, for how long now.
Well above the line. Most people who score this high already know it. What the questionnaire adds is the shape: which statements carry the score, and so where to start. If your phone is costing you sleep, work or people and you cannot stop on your own, talk to a doctor or a counsellor. They take this seriously.
The statements that carry your score
You didn't agree with a single statement. The score is the sum of ten mild answers.
That is a feeling, measured. The fact is the clock: how many hours, in which apps, and whether it is going up. Your iPhone already counts it. finit keeps the count for years and sets it against your life, without blocking anything and without shame.
Where the questions come from
The ten statements are the Smartphone Addiction Scale, Short Version, published by Min Kwon and colleagues in 2013 and used in research ever since. It has been translated and checked in dozens of countries, with adults as well as the teenagers it was built on.
Each statement is rated from 1 to 6, so the total runs from 10 to 60. In the original study of 540 Korean teenagers, a score of 31 for boys and 33 for girls best separated the ones experts had judged to be at risk from the rest, catching about nine in ten of them. Later studies with adults have drawn the line in the same place, give or take a point: a 2025 study of 530 university students in Honduras settled on 32 for everyone. We modernised the wording lightly: smartphone became phone, Twitter or Facebook became social media, weakly became somewhat. The statements, their order and the six-point scale are the original's.
What the score can tell you, and what it can't
It can tell you whether your phone use has the shape of a problem: the loss of control, the restlessness without it, the people around you noticing. That is a real signal, and the reason the scale exists.
It cannot diagnose you, because there is no such diagnosis to give. Phone addiction appears in neither of the manuals doctors work from, the ICD-11 and the DSM-5; the nearest entry is gaming disorder. Researchers say problematic smartphone use for a reason. A score above the line means look closer, not you are ill.
And a low score is not a clean bill. A questionnaire asks how the phone feels to you, from memory, and memory is a poor clock: when researchers compared what people said about their digital media use with what their devices had logged, the two matched only moderately. The number that settles it is time. Your iPhone already counts it, app by app. finit keeps that count, day after day, for years, and sets it against your life. It never blocks and it never shames. It shows you the record, and you decide.
Preguntas
Is phone addiction a real diagnosis?
Not an official one. Neither the ICD-11 nor the DSM-5 lists it; the ICD-11 does list gaming disorder, which is the nearest entry. Researchers therefore talk about problematic smartphone use, and questionnaires like this one screen for it. A screen sorts people into worth a closer look and probably not. A diagnosis is something a clinician does, with you in the room.
How is the score calculated?
Each statement is rated 1 to 6 and the ten ratings are added up, so the score runs from 10 to 60. The line at 31, or 33 for women, comes from the original study, where it best separated the teenagers experts had judged at risk. We show which statements carry your score because the total alone hides that: a 34 built on restlessness and a 34 built on neck pain are different stories.
Is my result stored anywhere?
No. Your answers and your score are worked out by this page in your browser and go nowhere: nothing stored, nothing sent, no account to save them under. The only thing we count is that a test was started and that one was finished, not how it went.
I scored high. What now?
First, get the actual number. Your iPhone's Screen Time shows the last weeks, app by app, and finit keeps them for years. A score is a feeling; a number is a place to start. Then pick the one app that carries most of it and read our guide to reducing screen time without blocking anything.
Small rules work better than you would think. In an experiment run by Swiss public television, 86 people tried four of them for a week. Keeping the phone away from meals and conversations cut pickups by a third, and doing all four together cut screen time by about a quarter. It was one week and not representative, but it cost nothing to try.
If the phone is costing you sleep, work or relationships and you cannot stop on your own, talk to a doctor or a counsellor. They take this seriously.
Can I take the test again?
As often as you like. It asks about the last few weeks, so a retake next month is a fair comparison, provided you answer from the same honest place both times. Otherwise you are comparing moods, not weeks.
Fuentes
- Kwon, M., Kim, D.-J., Cho, H., Yang, S. (2013). The Smartphone Addiction Scale: Development and Validation of a Short Version for Adolescents. PLOS ONE, 8(12), e83558. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution licence; the statements above are adapted from its Appendix S1. doi.org
- Hidalgo-Fuentes, S., Martínez-Álvarez, I., Llamas-Salguero, F., Pineda-Zelaya, I. S., Merino-Soto, C., Chans, G. M. (2025). Psychometric properties of the smartphone addiction scale-short version (SAS-SV) in Honduran university students. PLOS ONE, 20(7), e0327226. 530 students, cut-off 32. doi.org
- World Health Organization. Addictive behaviours: gaming disorder (ICD-11). who.int
- Parry, D. A., Davidson, B. I., Sewall, C. J. R., Fisher, J. T., Mieczkowski, H., Quintana, D. S. (2021). A systematic review and meta-analysis of discrepancies between logged and self-reported digital media use. Nature Human Behaviour, 5, 1535-1547. doi.org
- SRF Einstein (2024). Handysucht: Smartphone-Detox, 5 Strategien im SRF-Test. 86 participants, one week; the broadcaster marks the results as not representative. srf.ch