We first asked people whether they had told their lover their phone passcode. 74% had shared their passcode with their partner, with 49% saying that their partner remembered the passcode and 25% saying they had forgotten it. 9% hadn\u2019t shared their passcode with their lover and they believed their partner did not know it. However, worryingly, 8% said that they had never shared their phone passcode, but their partner knew it anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of those that had shared their passcode with their partner, the majority of those whose partner remembered their passcode were male (60%), whilst just 42% of female respondents said that their partner remembered their code. The majority of those asked that hadn\u2019t shared their passcode but their partner knew it anyway were women (10%), whilst 5% of men said their partner knew their passcode without them being told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next, we asked Americans whether their partner had told them their phone passcode. 83% said their partner had shared their passcode with them, with 29% forgetting the code whilst 54% had remembered it. Additionally, 12% said that their partner had not told them their phone passcode.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe majority of those asked that remembered their partner\u2019s passcode were male (61%), whilst 49% of female respondents said they remember their partner\u2019s passcode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interestingly, the majority of Americans said that both they and their partner remembered each other\u2019s phone passcodes, with more partners of respondents sharing their phone passcode than respondents themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The motivation for checking a partner\u2019s phone<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nWith the majority of Americans confirming that both they and their partner knew each other\u2019s passcodes, we next wanted to know how often they were looking at each other\u2019s phones, and what their motivations were for checking their lover\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We asked those surveyed whether they had looked at their partner\u2019s phone without them knowing. In total, 71% of those asked said they had checked their significant other\u2019s phone without their knowledge, with 21% doing so often, 38% doing so sometimes, and 12% doing so rarely. In contrast, just 22% said they don\u2019t look at their partner\u2019s phone. Evidently, looking at your lover\u2019s phone is fairly common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
31% of male respondents reported checking their partner\u2019s mobile phone often, compared to just 15% of female respondents. Similarly, 40% of male respondents said that they sometimes looked at their partner\u2019s phone without their knowledge, compared to 37% of female respondents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We also wanted to know what people were doing when using their partner\u2019s phone, particularly when their partner didn\u2019t know they were doing so. The majority (60%) of those asked were using their lover\u2019s phone to use their paid subscription services, such as Netflix and Spotify \u2013 innocent enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, over half (55%) used their partner\u2019s phone to check their emails, with 52% also checking their partner\u2019s social media. And the privacy invasion didn\u2019t stop there, with 51% looking at their partner\u2019s images, and 51% also checking their messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA further 2% of people said that they only used their partner\u2019s phone if they asked them to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Males were more likely to use their partner\u2019s phone for their paid subscriptions (65%), compared to 56% of female respondents. Similarly, males were more likely to check their partner\u2019s emails (61%), social media (61%), images (60%), and messages (59%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, just 51% of females said they check their partner\u2019s emails, whilst 45% admitted to checking their partner\u2019s social media, images, and messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Catching a partner looking at your phone<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nSo, we know that the majority of Americans feel comfortable looking at their partner\u2019s phone without their permission for a variety of reasons, but what about when the same happens to them? How comfortable are people with catching their partner looking at their phone without their permission or knowledge?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SellCell discovered that over half (57%) of those surveyed had caught a partner using their phone, with 43% saying they had never found their partner looking at their phone. 70% of male respondents had caught a partner looking at their phone, whilst 48% of female respondents said they had found their partner using their phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In terms of how comfortable people felt when they caught a partner snooping through their phone, the results were a mixed bag. Surprisingly, 40% said that they felt very comfortable with their partner checking their phone without their permission, whilst 42% said they felt comfortable with it. 14% felt neutral about finding their partner using their phone, whilst just 4% reported feeling uncomfortable and 1% felt very uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of those that reported feeling uncomfortable with catching their partner looking at their phone, we wanted to know what had made them feel that way. The majority (62%) said that they felt uncomfortable with their partner looking at their phone without permission because, despite having nothing to hide, they felt that their partner should trust them.<\/p>\n\n\n\nJust under half (47%) said that they had personal images or messages on their phone that they didn\u2019t want their partner to see, whilst 37% said that they don\u2019t use their partner\u2019s phone so their partner shouldn\u2019t use theirs either. Similarly, 30% felt that, as their phone isn\u2019t their partner\u2019s property, they shouldn\u2019t use it without permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relationship phone-snooping: a matter of trust issues or good faith?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe survey found that an overwhelming majority of Americans are looking at their partner\u2019s phone, with or without their permission. Whilst the reasons for using a significant other\u2019s phone behind their back varied, many centered on looking at their communication with other people. With so much of our personal data being stored on our mobile devices, having partners look through our phones without permission can be quite a concerning thought, particularly for those in newer relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the majority said they innocently wanted to use subscription services such as Spotify, it was clear that one of the key motivations behind snooping on a partner\u2019s phone was to try and catch them out in the act of infidelity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Methodology<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nSellCell surveyed 2,000 US adults (18+) between the 23rd-26th of January 2023. People were surveyed using seven questions, in order to ascertain how many people are comfortable using their partner\u2019s phone in a relationship and how comfortable they are having their partner use their phone in return. No personal data was collected during this survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Data was compiled in January 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They say that a relationship is nothing without trust, but what about when that trust includes allowing your partner to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":13993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1821],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
The relationship deal-breaker: 51% of Americans check their partner\u2019s messages without their permission<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SellCell surveyed US adults to see how many tell their partner their phone passcode and how comfortable they are snooping on their partner's mobile phone.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The relationship deal-breaker: 51% of Americans check their partner\u2019s messages without their permission\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SellCell surveyed US adults to see how many tell their partner their phone passcode and how comfortable they are snooping on their partner's mobile phone.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SellCell.com Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-06T12:01:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-08T07:56:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/the-relationship-deal-breaker.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah McConomy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah McConomy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah McConomy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/115368f2e2703551a320290ba693966e\"},\"headline\":\"The relationship deal-breaker: 51% of Americans check their partner\u2019s messages without their permission\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-06T12:01:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-08T07:56:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/\"},\"wordCount\":1622,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Mobile Phones\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/\",\"name\":\"The relationship deal-breaker: 51% of Americans check their partner\u2019s messages without their permission\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-06T12:01:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-08T07:56:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"SellCell surveyed US adults to see how many tell their partner their phone passcode and how comfortable they are snooping on their partner's mobile phone.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The relationship deal-breaker: 51% of Americans check their partner\u2019s messages without their permission\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SellCell.com Blog\",\"description\":\"Cell Phone News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SellCell\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/c9ac71a8282e1fecd95e-f07dbcddcacf0d4c572ea7178ee6902d.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sellcell-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/c9ac71a8282e1fecd95e-f07dbcddcacf0d4c572ea7178ee6902d.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sellcell-logo.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"SellCell\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/115368f2e2703551a320290ba693966e\",\"name\":\"Sarah McConomy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a69e88ba6cc5d1a23fd15c2565b9038?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a69e88ba6cc5d1a23fd15c2565b9038?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sarah McConomy\"},\"description\":\"With over 20 years of experience in blue-chip FMCG and consumer products, Sarah McConomy moved into the online tech space more than a decade ago and is now COO of SellCell.com, the US\u2019s leading phone and tech trade-in brand. She has also co-founded several online tech platforms, including a nationwide mobile phone repair service, giving her deep insight into consumer technology and the digital marketplace.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sarahmcconomy\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/author\/sarah-mcconomy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The relationship deal-breaker: 51% of Americans check their partner\u2019s messages without their permission","description":"SellCell surveyed US adults to see how many tell their partner their phone passcode and how comfortable they are snooping on their partner's mobile phone.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The relationship deal-breaker: 51% of Americans check their partner\u2019s messages without their permission","og_description":"SellCell surveyed US adults to see how many tell their partner their phone passcode and how comfortable they are snooping on their partner's mobile phone.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/","og_site_name":"SellCell.com Blog","article_published_time":"2023-02-06T12:01:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-08T07:56:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":850,"height":550,"url":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/the-relationship-deal-breaker.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sarah McConomy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sarah McConomy","Estimated reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/"},"author":{"name":"Sarah McConomy","@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/115368f2e2703551a320290ba693966e"},"headline":"The relationship deal-breaker: 51% of Americans check their partner\u2019s messages without their permission","datePublished":"2023-02-06T12:01:18+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-08T07:56:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/"},"wordCount":1622,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Mobile Phones"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/","url":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/","name":"The relationship deal-breaker: 51% of Americans check their partner\u2019s messages without their permission","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-02-06T12:01:18+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-08T07:56:41+00:00","description":"SellCell surveyed US adults to see how many tell their partner their phone passcode and how comfortable they are snooping on their partner's mobile phone.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/how-many-americans-look-at-partners-phone\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The relationship deal-breaker: 51% of Americans check their partner\u2019s messages without their permission"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/","name":"SellCell.com Blog","description":"Cell Phone News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"SellCell","url":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/c9ac71a8282e1fecd95e-f07dbcddcacf0d4c572ea7178ee6902d.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sellcell-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/c9ac71a8282e1fecd95e-f07dbcddcacf0d4c572ea7178ee6902d.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/sellcell-logo.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"SellCell"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/115368f2e2703551a320290ba693966e","name":"Sarah McConomy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a69e88ba6cc5d1a23fd15c2565b9038?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a69e88ba6cc5d1a23fd15c2565b9038?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Sarah McConomy"},"description":"With over 20 years of experience in blue-chip FMCG and consumer products, Sarah McConomy moved into the online tech space more than a decade ago and is now COO of SellCell.com, the US\u2019s leading phone and tech trade-in brand. She has also co-founded several online tech platforms, including a nationwide mobile phone repair service, giving her deep insight into consumer technology and the digital marketplace.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sarahmcconomy\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/author\/sarah-mcconomy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13984"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13984"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13992,"href":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13984\/revisions\/13992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sellcell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Partners](\"https:\/\/c9ac71a8282e1fecd95e-f07dbcddcacf0d4c572ea7178ee6902d.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/partners-sharing-mobile-phone-passcodes-1024x939.png\")
![\"Knowing](\"https:\/\/c9ac71a8282e1fecd95e-f07dbcddcacf0d4c572ea7178ee6902d.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/knowing-our-partners-mobile-phone-passcodes-1024x939.png\")
![\"Why](\"https:\/\/c9ac71a8282e1fecd95e-f07dbcddcacf0d4c572ea7178ee6902d.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/why-americans-use-their-partners-mobile-phones-without-permission-1024x939.png\")
![\"Reasons](\"https:\/\/c9ac71a8282e1fecd95e-f07dbcddcacf0d4c572ea7178ee6902d.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/reasons-americans-are-not-comfortable-with-their-partner-using-their-phone-without-permission-1024x939.png\")