Almost all 13-year-olds own a smartphone

The agency, which specializes in children and family marketing, surveyed 2,086 parents with children aged between 0 and 13 in an online survey in April 2016. The study is representative of families who use the internet.Smartphone use already taken for granted at an early age 13-year-old children are allowed to use their smartphone almost every day. However, smartphone use is now taken for granted even among toddlers. 50% of children under the age of one receive a smartphone once or twice a week. The tablet at home is passed on to the kids even more often: around 40% of 9 to 10-year-olds are allowed to use it every day (Figure 2). Parents place more trust in their offspring as they get older. While children up to the age of 2 are only allowed to use apps in the presence of their parents, more than half of 10 to 13-year-olds are left alone with apps.

Almost all children aged 13 have a smartphone, and many even have an additional tablet.Android beats iOSThe operating system preferred by families is Android from Google, not only for smartphones but also for tablets. Over 50% of the families surveyed own an Android tablet. There are twice as many Android tablets as iPads in German households. However, the higher the household income, the more popular Apple-branded devices are.Children love games and videosGames are children's favorite applications. 42% of them spend their time with educational games, 26% with puzzles, 24% with brain games. 82% of children sometimes watch videos on mobile devices, mainly on YouTube.Time limits more important than contentParents set clear rules for their children when using apps. 59 % stated in the survey that there are time and content rules for their children. The time factor seems to be more important for parents than the content that the child engages with. This is because 25% of parents only set rules for their children regarding time, while only 9% set rules regarding content alone.Information sources depending on the age of the parents"It is very remarkable that the age of the parents - regardless of the age of the children - plays such a big role when it comes to apps and mobile devices," says KB&B owner Rolf Kosakowski. This is because over 60% of parents born in the 1990s find out about new apps in the App Store or Play Store. For parents born in the 1960s, on the other hand, recommendations from friends are the most important source of information. The higher the household income, the less attention is paid to the information for parents - which is specific to many apps. On average, they are read by 50 percent of parents.81% of parents have never paid for an appFor a very good app for their children, 80% of parents would be willing to spend up to 0.50 euros, 40% up to 4.50 euros. However, 81% stated that they had never paid for an app before. Rolf Kosakowski: "It is surprising that creative apps (€1.60 average) and picture book/reading apps (€1.72 average) are worth less to parents than game apps (€2.09 average)."From Lego to WhatsApp - changing priorities among childrenFinally, parents were asked about their children's favorite apps. While Lego, Mouse and YouTube are the most popular among 1 to 9-year-olds, WhatsApp is the number one communication service for 10 to 13-year-olds, followed by YouTube, Minecraft and Facebook. For them, communicating with others via social networks is a priority.The age of the children determines the involvement of the parents"Apps and mobile devices have 'arrived' in families," concludes Rolf Kosakowski. "A good proportion of younger children can already be reached via apps. From the secondary school years onwards, we can assume almost 1001TP3 coverage with mobile devices. Depending on the age of the children, parents need to be involved or convinced to varying degrees in marketing campaigns."