Phone numbers are on the verge of extinction as almost half (46 percent) of Americans ages 18-22 ask for a social media handle instead of a phone number when meeting new people, according to a survey of mobile customers by Bank of America.
Other key findings:
Most Americans (58 percent) anticipate the country will become entirely cashless in their lifetime. About one quarter (23 percent) of Americans say they can avoid using cash for a month at a time, while 19 percent said they can forego using physical currency for a full year.
The most popular apps are navigation (used by 68 percent of consumers), entertainment (58 percent), retail (55 percent) and music (51 percent). Americans prefer an app that is easy to use (35 percent) and efficient (23 percent), compared with one that is entertaining (12 percent) or social (5 percent).
Person-to-person payments have become more popular, rising eight percentage points in the past year to 44 percent of consumers. PSP gift is considered appropriate for birthdays (58 percent of respondents), graduations (48 percent), holidays (48 percent), allowances (42 percent) and weddings (38 percent).
Mobile communications are the most common way to stay in touch with siblings (74 percent), friends (68 percent) and parents (53 percent), while in-person communication is more common with significant others (84 percent), children (67 percent) and colleagues (61 percent).
Mobile bank apps have grown their user base from 48 percent of people surveyed in 2015 to 70 percent this year. The biggest adopters of mobile banking are Generation Z (78 percent), millennials (77 percent), Generation X (67 percent) and baby boomers (59 percent).
Many Americans are comfortable using biometrics on their smartphones such as fingerprint/touch ID (69 percent), voice recognition (65 percent), facial recognition (50 percent) and retina scan (44 percent).
Researcher Convergys surveyed 1,001 adults 18 and older with a current bank account at Bank of America and who own a smartphone.