How do you split your computer time between Mac / iPad / iPhone / Something else?

When you think of an average day, using different computers, how do you think your “computer time” is split among those devices – adding up to 100%?

Mac 80%
iPad 10%
iPhone 5%
Other Computers (Kindle) 5%

(Not including gaming devices and all the smart devices I share with others: Apple TV, Echos, etc.)

1 Like

My split is:
Work - 100% Mac
Home - 100% iPad and iPhone

4 Likes

Mac 15%
iPad 65%
iPhone 15%
Other Computers (Raspberry Pi) 5%

I use my iPad for work, the Mac for file / network related tasks, the iPhone for messages and the Rpi for fun and domotics

2 Likes

Great question but hard to answer accurately. Our memories are notoriously unreliable when subjectively “measuring” such things (at least mine is!) but that said, below is my best guesstimate. I’ll add that since purchasing the M1 MBP my use of it has gone up and my use of the iPad has gone down. Nevertheless, I still find myself gravitating to the iPad for writing.

MBP 60%
IPad 30%
IPhone 10

2 Likes

Agree this is a great question. Jumping off from Dr. Mosbacker’s post, I thought I’d try some pseudoscience to get a little more accuracy.

I used screentime to get the average daily use among my devices and then I calculated the percentages.

iPad Pro: 27.5%
MBP: 47.4%
iPhone: 25.1%

Based on the way I read screen time reports, it looks like some of the time I’m using two devices roughly simultaneously.

I think these numbers might fluctuate pretty wildly from week to week. For example, this week I was heavily desk-bound. Last week I was out and about with primarily my iPhone. Maybe I will run this test periodically and examine the trend. Also, when my new iPad Pro comes in I imagine these numbers will change significantly. Will it be just a short run boost during the setting up and testing it out phase or will it represent a sea change in performing my activities? The X factor is the iPadOs update to be announced. What effect could a more powerful iPadOS do to these usage numbers? Stay tuned for more pseudosciency updates.

This was fun.

3 Likes

It varies, of course, but I spend most of my work day on a Mac, and non-consumption leisure time on a Mac, so I’d probably be 75% Mac, 15% iPhone, 10% iPad. iPhone higher than iPad because it is always with me. My iPad time has fallen off a cliff since the release of the M1 MacBook Pro.

2 Likes

I’m retired so my use case is different than most of the people here. Almost all of my reading is on the iPad. I use it for short messages but when composing anything of length I usually prefer to use my Mac. Only thing I use my iPhone for in the house is calls and listening to podcasts. When traveling I use the phone all the time listening to podcasts and audiobooks.

Mac 10%
iPad 75%
iPhone 15%
Other Computers (Kindle) 0%

2 Likes

By WAG iMac or MacAir 80% (I often have both up and both connected to external screens, 1 is my Android development sytem and one is the Python development system) I use whatever one is not the development machine to do my web searches and look for answers to issues I have. I also almost always have my iPad up with documentation and programming manuals then too. So I’m often using all 3 main devices at the same time.

iPad & iPhone 10% This is by itself and not part of the work when I have multiple computers up and running at once. iPhone is almost exclusively as a phone or to check off tasks that are done in Omnifocus or play Solitaire. Ipad is my notepad, using GoodNotes and my e-book reader using Kindle so I often use it a lot even when I am primarily doing another task on another machine.

LambTracker Android tablets 10%? varies. Obviously it’s in use in the field during lambing and all sheep work but also I have 2 bench units I use during coding for testing. But then I am also using my Macs and iPad at the same time.

2 Likes

Using the screen time method and daily averages:

  • iPhone = 27.8% (mostly audio, music and podcasts, some calls)
  • M1 MacBook Pro 13 = 40.5% (spreadsheets, dealing with files, writing, task/cal mgmt, creating, organizing my day)
  • iPad Pro 12.9 = 31.8% (reading, annotating, writing, idea gen, creating, marking up documents)
2 Likes

Also retired. I use my phone almost exclusively. I use it for reading, email, remote for tv, social media, photography, etc. I use my Macbook Air at in person meetings, zoom meetings, occasionally for composing longer documents (although with my arthritis that is getting more difficult), working with pdf’s, and most filing tasks.
I frequently use my phone at the same time I am using my Mac. For example, I just had a zoom meeting about a book that I read on my iPhone.
A couple of days ago, I was outside without my phone and answered a call on my watch. That was a first for me. (My carrier, Pure talk does not provide service for watches so I guess I was on wifi.

2 Likes

I’m puzzled by the lack of precision in the computed percentages you report.

:wink:

3 Likes

75% iMac (This is where I do most of what I would consider “work”)
10% MacBook Air (This is what I use when I want to move around, but still be able to type reliably)
10% iPhone (used mostly for checking weather, text messages, news, phone calls, directions while driving, etc.)
5% iPad (Occasional usage for reading in iBooks or Kindle)

2 Likes

Also based on ScreenTime averages (clever idea!)…
54% MacBook Pro (M1)
26% iPhone 11 Pro
20% iPad mini

But the variation is quite a lot, particularly the balance between Mac and iPad, and the absolute time on the Mac will increase substantially some days.

Barely any of that is work related.

1 Like

Mac 0%
iPad 65%
iPhone 30%
Kindle 5%

1 Like

When I worked from home:
Mac: 70%
iPhone: 25%
iPad: 5%

Now that I’m in the world again:
iPhone: 50%
iPad: 45%
Mac: 5%

1 Like

Great question but hard to answer accurately.

Truth! If Screen Time were…remotely accurate for me…I’d have a better shot.

My guess:

iPhone 40%
Mac 40%
iPad 20%