How to Type Faster on Your Phone: What a 37,000-Person Study Shows

How fast do people type on a phone?

The best large study on this comes from Aalto University and the University of Cambridge, who measured 37,370 volunteers typing on their phones in 2019. The average was 36.2 words per minute, with 2.3% of errors left uncorrected. For comparison, the same research group measured an average of about 52 WPM on physical keyboards — so most people are roughly 30% slower on a phone.

What the research says makes people faster

• Two thumbs beat one finger. People who typed with two fingers averaged 37.7 WPM; those using a single finger averaged 29.2 WPM.
• Autocorrect helps. Using autocorrection was associated with higher speed.
• Word suggestions can slow you down. Tapping predicted words was associated with lower speed — stopping to look at the suggestion bar often costs more time than it saves.
• Desktop touch-typing training didn’t transfer. Having taken a keyboard typing course didn’t make people faster on a phone; it’s a separate skill that needs its own practice.

8 tips to type faster on your phone

1. Use both thumbs. Hold the phone in both hands and split the keyboard: left thumb for the left half, right thumb for the right half. The alternating rhythm is the single biggest speed gain.
2. Trust autocorrect. Type through small slips instead of stopping to fix each one; autocorrect will clean up most of them when you hit space.
3. Glance at suggestions less. Only tap a suggested word when it’s long and clearly right. Otherwise keep typing.
4. Try swipe (gesture) typing for common words. Sliding across the letters is fast for everyday words; tap for names and unusual words.
5. Turn on the double-space period. Most keyboards insert “. “ when you double-tap space — no need to open the symbols layer.
6. Use text replacement. Set shortcuts like “omw” → “On my way!” for phrases you type every day.
7. Make the keyboard bigger. Landscape mode or a larger keyboard height reduces mis-taps, especially on small phones.
8. Keep your eyes on the text, not the keys. Like on a computer, the fastest phone typists know where letters are without looking.

Should you practise on a computer instead?

If your work involves real writing — emails, reports, code — a physical keyboard is still much faster, and learning to touch type pays off more than any phone trick. The free touch typing lessons start from the home row, and the 1-minute typing test works on phones too if you want to measure your thumb speed.

How does your speed compare?

Enter your result in the average typing speed calculator — keep in mind that its comparison is based on keyboard typing, so phone scores will naturally rank lower.