Digital Identity: What Users Think About Devices and Logins

As an advocate for developers and a company that trusts the developer community, we are open-sourcing this survey data to foster dialogue, innovation, and shared learning. By making these insights publicly available, we invite researchers, developers, and CIAM leaders to analyze and build upon our findings. Understanding global digital identity trends requires diverse perspectives, and an open-source approach allows for an informed and equitable discussion.

Digital technologies continue to change human interactions, shaping global attitudes toward identity, security, and new technological innovations in similar and different ways. Our latest End-User Device & Login Sentiment survey highlights key trends in digital identity preferences, authentication methods, and security concerns. This survey and high-level takeaways contribute to the broader discourse of technology, CIAM, and an evolving general population market. Please find details on the purpose, audience, and collection below:

Purpose

Understand the general population of global users' evolving technology needs and behaviors to identify key trends and shifts. The following Key topics were covered:

Device/OS usage

• Personal vs. Work device usage
• Device registration preference
• Work application usage

Attitude towards technology

• Overall tech familiarity
• Hardware update motives
• Frequency of technology updates

Identifier preference

• Identifier familiarity
• Identifier registration preference
• Perceived vulnerability and convenience

Password management

• Reuse & Change Password
• Compromised PII
• Fraud Check

Research Questions

1. Understand current technology devices and usage patterns
2. Identifying emerging trends in end-user preference
3. Discover unmet needs and pain points to capitalize on new opportunities, driving innovation and strategic growth

Target Audience

Partnered with Qualtrics for a 33-question survey in the following regions/countries: EMEA (France & United Kingdom), NAMR (United States & Canada), LATAM (Mexico & Brazil), and India.

Sample

N=1049

• Age
  • Age 18-23: 19%
  • Age 24-30 19%
  • Age 35-54: 32%
  • Age 55+: 30%
• Region
  • NAMR 25%
  • EMEA 25%
  • LATAM 25%
  • APAC 25%
• Gender
  • Male:48%
  • Female: 52%
• Community Type
  • 1/3 Rural
  • 1/3 Suburban
  • 1/3 Urban
• Household Income
  • Less than $25,000- 5%
  • $25,001 - $50,000- 10%
  • $50,001 - $75,000- 20%
  • $75,001 - $100,000- 30%
  • $100,001 - $150,000- 20%
  • $150,001 - $200,000- 10%
  • More than $200,000- 5%

Data Integrity

No personally identifying information (PII) was collected. All responses shorter than 3 minutes (180 seconds) were removed. The median completion time was 6.08 minutes. Participants were compensated for completing the survey.

Samplings across regions are representative of age and gender distributions. For example, given the larger youth population, more youth aged 18 to 30 were sampled in India. Given the country's demographics, ages ranging from 45 to 59+ were skewed towards EMEA and NAMR.

Additionally, LATAM skewed predominantly toward the urban community type, EMEA represented much of the rural community type, and NAMR led heavily toward the Suburban community type.

Regression analysis

Logistic Regression on survey data was completed to gauge if any response options forecast an individual's Willingness to Try New Identifiers. No substantial evidence indicates these factors are significant predictors.

Six low-level predictors for Willingness to Try New Identifiers were identified. These include the following:

1. Attitude towards New Tech
2. Familiarity with Identifiers other than Email and Username
3. How often do individuals update their devices
4. Age
5. Apple-Only OS Owners
6. APAC/India region

Data was collected in October of 2024. Data is accessible via a CSV. file.

Citation

1 End-User Device and Login Sentiment, Auth0, 2024. Link

Insights

Top 10 Learnings

1. Android Phone and Windows OS more widely adopted across diverse groups:
   
   • Adoption more prevalent in LATAM and APAC
   • Android users tend to be lower to middle-household income
2. Younger demographics and higher income are more likely to use Apple OS
   
   • Apple OS more pronounced in EMEA and NAMR
3. Younger demographics and higher income are more likely to use Apple OS
   
   • Positive attitude toward new technology, higher frequency of device updates, and more open to adopting new identifiers
4. EMEA and NAMR are more cautious about approaching new technologies
   
   • Preference could be influenced by cultural differences and regulations
5. Top upgrade motivators are new features, device damage, battery issues, and limited memory.
   
   • India/APAC unique concern for social brand preference and security concerns
6. Respondents who are more familiar with alternative identifiers (email and username) show higher readiness to adopt new ones.
   
   • Apple OS users less likely to try new identifiers
7. The most familiar and used identifiers include Email, username, phone/SMS, and biometrics. In contrast, the least used and familiar include Blockchain and hardware security keys.
   
   • Social login is slightly more prevalent in LATAM and APAC
8. Username, email, and fingerprint are rated as the most convenient across all regions.
   
   • EMEA and NAMR seem to be more sensitive to non-conventional identifiers such as government ID, security key, and voice ID, while even social login is ranked neutral.
9. In contrast, Social Login is perceived as the most vulnerable to hackers and cyber-attacks.
   
   • Our recent article, Demystifying Social Login, dives deeper into the security of leveraging Auth0 social connections for end-users.
10. Security and Privacy priority for motivations to try new identifiers
    
    • NAMR and EMEA rank innovation as one of the lowest drivers

Download the .CSV data here.

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