Vodafone today launches research that delves deep into London’s mobile habits, revealing that the most popular message sent by Londoners is “love you”, followed by “lol”, “are you ok?”, “miss you” and “good night?”. The findings show that while phones play a hugely functional role in daily life, human connection still sits firmly at the heart of how Londoners use them.
Phones are central to our social lives, with Londoners sending on average 139 different types of messages a day. Meeting up IRL (in real life) for coffee, drinks or dinner is a Londoners’ favourite thing to arrange via mobile (68%), compared with 65% nationally.
On a typical day, Londoners use their phones on-the-go to check their bank balance (58%), send messages to friends or family (56%) and scroll social media (50%). They make an average of 19 calls a day, compared with 15 nationally, and send 38 messages a day.
The most popular things Londoners use their phones for in a typical week are shopping (28 times) which is six times more than the UK; checking their bank balance (26 times), five times higher than nationally; and using AI to ask a question or get a recommendation (25 times) compared to the average Brit who asks AI 17 times.
Beyond keeping London connected, phones also provide entertainment on-the-go. The average Londoner watches nine films weekly, compared to a national average of seven films. Watches ten TV episodes and listens to ten podcast episodes on their mobile – while the UK average for both is just seven in a typical week. Londoners also stream an average of 298 songs weekly on their phones, compared with 185 nationally.
The findings come as Vodafone is named London’s Best Network by NET CHECK for the third year running. Across Vodafone’s network alone, Londoners make 14.5 million calls and use 1.9 petabytes of data every day, with data usage up 12% from 2025, highlighting the growing demand for mobile data and calls across the capital.
The study also reveals the perfect phone etiquette for Londoners, with the capital’s biggest bugbears being:
Unexpected phone calls (44%)
Too many group chat messages (38%)
Video calls without warning (36%)
Voice notes that are too long (33%)
People using speakerphone in public (32%).
Even voicemail appears to have lost some of its appeal in the capital, with only half (52%) saying it is still useful, while 1 in 10 describe it as ‘annoying’.
The research points to a simple truth: while Londoners have never been more digitally connected, and more reliant on phones, they still want to take conversations offline and turn messages into meaningful face-to-face moments.
To celebrate being named London’s Best Network, and to encourage IRL catch-ups, Vodafone is inviting Londoners to enjoy a free coffee and reusable cup at several pop-up locations across the capital, while also offering them access to a free 7-day Vodafone network trial via https://www.vodafone.co.uk/sim-only/pay-as-you-go-sim/London, terms apply**.
Pop up locations
Tuesday 5th May – Bishops Square, 250 Bishopsgate, London E1 6AA – from 7am to 7pm
Wednesday 6th May – Paddington Central, 1 Kingdom St, London W2 6BD – from 7am to 9:50am
Wednesday 6th May Box Park, 2-10 Bethnal Green Rd, London E1 6GY Shoreditch – from 11:30am – 7pm
Thursday 7th May – Canary Wharf Estate Reuters Plaza, London E14 5AJ– from 7am to 7pm
