Single iPhone users judge single Android owners more negatively

Impact

Paging single Android users: iPhone owners are apparently judging you by your smartphone, and it may be costing you a date.

A Match.com survey of 5,509 single men and women aged 18 years and older found a relationship between smartphones and dating preferences. Specifically, iPhone users are 21 times more likely to judge their Android counterparts more negatively. Android users are judgment-filled too, but at a lesser rate: They are just 15 times more likely to judge others for their Apple handset.

Think device upgrades don’t matter? The survey found, regardless of iPhone or Android, that those with older models of smartphones are 56% less likely to score a date. Women are pickier in this department, as they are 92% more likely to judge their dates negatively for having an older model phone.

Other phone related tips: keep your cracked screen hidden or repaired — 14% of singles don’t like a cracked screen — and and considering turning off the audio that clicks when you type, as this also annoys 14% of singles.

The survey also shed some insight into how people perceive others who use their phones on a date. Of those surveyed, 75% of singles said they would be turned off if their date answered their phone without offering up an explanation and 66% would be turned off if their date texted someone. As for whether a device should be facing up or down: 58% said they don't want their date to have their device face up on the table. And if you're thinking you can sneak off to the bathroom without making a bad impression, think again — 41% of respondents said it is "rude" for people to take their phone with them to the bathroom or outside.

"We look for so many other ways in which we're compatible with potential partners, why shouldn't phones be on the list?" Abby Rodman, a psychotherapist in Boston, told MarketWatch. "Where a person lives, what car they drive and what they do for a living are all things we weigh before embarking on a relationship. That may be pitiful commentary, but we're also looking for compatibility in the nonmaterialistic: political viewpoints, religious convictions and fundamental ethical values."

What's responsible for this phone-based prejudice? 

Perhaps iPhone users really want the ability to send encrypted iMessages or FaceTime their romantic interests. Or, as MarketWatch noted, ComScore found iPhone users tend to earn more than Android users.

As online dating continues to become more prevalent, perhaps it's time for single people to look at the smartphone predominantly used by the majority of their dating demographic. Previous surveys have found 45% of women questioned preferred iPhones and young people tend to own iPhones.

That said, there's no need to chuck out your Android device just yet. Only a survey of a larger sampling can tell whether devices can truly impact your dating prospects.