---
title: "Number of Smartphone Owners Using Phones to Look Up Sports Scores"
description: "About four-in-ten smartphone owners say they used their phones recently to look up a sports score."
date: "2012-07-30"
authors:
  - name: "Russell Heimlich"
    job_title: "Former web developer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/russell-heimlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2012/07/30/number-of-smartphone-owners-using-phones-to-look-up-sports-scores/"
categories:
  - "Smartphones"
---

# Number of Smartphone Owners Using Phones to Look Up Sports Scores

The rapid adoption of cell phones and especially the spread of internet-connected smartphones are changing people’s communications with others and their relationships with information.

According to a survey done this spring – a few months before the start of the summer Olympics now underway —23% of all cell phone owners say they looked up a sports score within the past 30 days on their phones. That jumps to 39% among those with smartphones.

About half of smartphone users say they recently used their phone to coordinate a gathering (50%), solve an unexpected problem (47%), decide whether to visit a business (49%) or find information to settle an argument (46%).

A third (33%) say they used their smartphone in the previous 30 days to get up-to-the minute information on traffic or public transit, while 20% say they used their smartphone to get help in an emergency situation. [Read More](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/Reports/2012/Just-in-time/Main-Report/Findings.aspx)