Some 76 per cent of men would be embarrassed if someone else saw their SMS messages and contact information, compared to just 24 per cent of women, a new study from IObit has revealed.
IObit’s study, which surveyed 5,000 adult AMC Security users, shows that the majority of people are keen on keeping their SMS messages private. In fact, mobile phone owners are more likely to hide what they’ve been texting over any other information stored on their device. Almost a third want to hide their SMS messages the most, followed by contacts (25 per cent) and call logs (21 per cent), reports marketwatch.com.
Some 81 per cent of mobile phone owners feel that SMS messages should be private and 67.58 per cent want to hide their messages from their partners the most. A further 12.42 per cent are concerned about strangers or thieves seeing their messages, reports betanews.com. Other people users want to hide their texts from include: co-workers (11.4 per cent), relatives and classmates (8.6 per cent) and close friends and family members (30 per cent).
Brands should perhaps keep users’ preferences in mind when planning an SMS marketing campaign, as although things like text notifications for the purchase of an item can be useful, such messages can be viewed by anyone with access to the phone, which might lead to a birthday or Christmas surprise being ruined.
Fiona Choo, PM of IObit Mobile, commented: “The survey proves people are sensitive to individual privacy on their smartphones and long for a way to keep their personal data outside curious eyes.”
