Fact · Typing and writing speed
13.22words per minute
In the phone study, average typing speed was 36.17 words per minute, with a standard deviation of 13.22 words per minute.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“On average, participants typed at 36.17 WPM (SD = 13.22)”
How do People Type on Mobile Devices? Observations from a Study with 37,000 Volunteers, Kseniia Palin et al., Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI 2019), 2019, Section 4, Words per minute.
Open the original- What it measures
- The standard deviation tells you how far a typical person sits from the average. It shows the spread is wide: most typists sit well above or below 36 WPM.
- What it does not show
- Full sample, all devices reported as mobile in the study. The U.S. subsample has a similar mean, 35.99 WPM with SD 14.15.