Free 2-Minute Test
Free Phone Addiction Test
Ten questions from the Smartphone Addiction Scale, the research tool used in studies across more than 20 countries. About two minutes. Free, no signup, no email.
Released September 25, 2026 · Updated September 25, 2026
This free phone addiction test uses the 10 items of the Smartphone Addiction Scale, Short Version (SAS-SV; Kwon et al., 2013), answered on a 6-point scale. Scores run from 10 to 60. In the original validation study, scores of 31 and above for males and 33 and above for females flagged a high risk of smartphone addiction. It takes about two minutes, needs no signup, and is a self-check, not a diagnosis.
1Take the test
2 minutes, 10 questions. No account, no email, nothing to unlock.
2Read your result
Instant scores with honest interpretation bands, plus the one area where you scored weakest.
3Fix the weak spot
NerdSip generates a fact-checked 5-minute course on exactly that area. First lesson is free.
What This Phone Addiction Test Measures
Most people who search for a phone addiction test already suspect the answer. You pick the phone up to check the time and put it down twenty minutes later without knowing the time. The question is not whether you use your phone a lot, because almost everyone does. The question is whether the phone has started to cost you things you care about.
That is exactly what this test asks. It uses the ten statements of the Smartphone Addiction Scale, Short Version, or SAS-SV, which Min Kwon and colleagues published in PLoS ONE in 2013. The statements cover the signs addiction researchers look for in any behavior: use that runs past what you intended, lost work and lost focus, restlessness when the device is out of reach, a phone that stays on your mind when it is in your pocket, and other people noticing before you do. One item even asks about wrist and neck pain, because heavy use leaves physical traces.
You rate each statement on a six-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. There is no neutral middle, on purpose: the scale nudges you to lean one way or the other.
How Scoring Works, and Where the Cutoffs Come From
Each answer scores from 1 to 6, so your total lands between 10 and 60. Higher means more signs of problematic use.
Kwon's team validated the scale on 540 secondary-school students in South Korea and set its cutoffs with a standard ROC analysis. A score of 31 or higher for males and 33 or higher for females identified the students at high risk with sensitivity and specificity between 0.87 and 0.89, and the scale's internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach's alpha 0.91). Those two numbers are the cutoffs most studies still use.
Two honest caveats. First, the original cutoffs came from teenagers. Studies in adults across Europe and Latin America have found that the right threshold shifts from sample to sample, so treat the line as a useful marker rather than a bright border. Second, this page does not ask your gender, so the result explains where you sit relative to both cutoffs. Our four bands (10 to 21, 22 to 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 60) are a reading aid built around those published numbers.
Is Phone Addiction a Real Diagnosis?
Not officially. Neither the DSM-5 nor the World Health Organization's ICD-11 lists smartphone addiction as a disorder. ICD-11 does recognize gaming disorder, and many researchers argue that problematic smartphone use shares its core features: impaired control, rising priority over other activities, and continuing despite harm. Others warn against turning a common habit into an illness, since most heavy use is a response to boredom, stress or loneliness rather than a disease of its own.
That is why researchers usually say problematic smartphone use, and why this test gives you a risk level instead of a verdict. A high score means your answers look like those of people who struggle with their phone use. It does not mean something is wrong with you.
What the Numbers Look Like Around the World
The SAS-SV is one of the most widely used measures in the field, which makes comparisons possible. A 2022 meta-analysis led by Jay Olson pooled 83 samples and 33,831 people aged roughly 15 to 35 across 24 countries. Two findings stand out: scores rose over the years studied (2014 to 2020), and countries differed a lot. China, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia scored highest; Switzerland, Germany and France scored lowest.
Prevalence depends on the sample and the cutoff. In one Swiss study of 1,519 vocational students aged 15 to 19, 16.9 percent scored in the addiction range. In adult samples, rates vary widely from country to country, which is one more reason to read your own score as a starting point rather than a label.
What to Do With a High Score
The most encouraging lesson from habit research is that your surroundings matter more than your willpower. The changes most researchers recommend are structural: keep the phone out of the bedroom, take the most-used apps off the home screen, turn off every notification that is not from a person, and decide in advance what you will do in the moments when you usually reach for the phone. Our step-by-step guide on how to stop doomscrolling walks through a seven-day reset, and what to do instead of scrolling covers the part most people skip: giving the habit somewhere better to go.
If you want tools, our review of the best apps to stop doomscrolling sorts them by what they actually do, from hard blockers to replacement apps. And if the scroll comes with trouble focusing, the attention span test is a useful second measurement. Retake this test in 30 days; your score is saved on this device, so you will see whether the number moved.
The instrument behind this test
Smartphone Addiction Scale, Short Version (SAS-SV), 10 items. Items reproduced from Kwon et al. (2013) under the article's Creative Commons Attribution license. Item 8 is adapted: the original names Twitter and Facebook, this version says social media or group chats. Scored as a raw sum from 10 to 60, with the published cutoffs of 31 (males) and 33 (females). The upper split of our bands at 41 is a NerdSip reading aid, not a published threshold. Reference: 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..
Sources and further reading
- Kwon et al. (2013), The Smartphone Addiction Scale: Development and validation of a short version for adolescents, PLoS ONE · the SAS-SV, its items and cutoffs (CC BY)
- Kwon et al. (2013), Development and validation of a Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), PLoS ONE · the original 33-item scale
- Olson et al. (2022), Smartphone addiction is increasing across the world: A meta-analysis of 24 countries, Computers in Human Behavior · 83 samples, 33,831 participants
- Haug et al. (2015), Smartphone use and smartphone addiction among young people in Switzerland, Journal of Behavioral Addictions · 16.9% in the addiction range, German-language SAS-SV
- Lopez-Fernandez (2017), Short version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale adapted to Spanish and French, Addictive Behaviors · adult samples in Spain and Belgium
Released September 25, 2026 · Last updated September 25, 2026
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if I am addicted to my phone?
Look for costs, not hours. Signs of problematic use include using your phone longer than you intended, missing work or losing focus because of it, feeling restless without it, and people around you telling you that you use it too much. This test asks about exactly those signs using the validated Smartphone Addiction Scale, Short Version.
What is a normal score on the Smartphone Addiction Scale?
Scores run from 10 to 60. In the original validation study, 31 and above for males and 33 and above for females marked a high risk of smartphone addiction. Anything below the cutoff sits outside the risk range, and lower is better.
Is this phone addiction test accurate?
It uses the SAS-SV, a published and widely replicated research scale with strong internal consistency. It is still a self-report: your score depends on how honestly and accurately you describe yourself, and the cutoffs were first set in adolescents. It is a reliable self-check, not a clinical diagnosis.
Is smartphone addiction a real disorder?
It is not an official diagnosis in the DSM-5 or ICD-11. Researchers usually call it problematic smartphone use. It is taken seriously because it is linked to poorer sleep, lower focus and higher anxiety, but a high score describes a risky pattern, not an illness.
How can I reduce my phone addiction score?
Change the setting before you rely on willpower: charge the phone outside the bedroom, move tempting apps off the home screen, turn off non-human notifications, and plan a replacement activity for the moments you usually scroll. Retake the test after 30 days to see if your score dropped.
Do I need to sign up to see my result?
No. The test runs in your browser and shows the full result immediately. Nothing is sent to us; your last score is stored only on your device so you can compare when you retake it.
