Can Someone Guess Your Income by Looking at Your Apps?

The Washington Post thinks it can.

This quiz has either already hit your social networks or you’re going to be the person who seeds it to your friends, because here we go: the Washington Post wants to guess your income (and your age) by your apps.

Quiz: Can we guess your age and income, based solely on the apps on your phone?

I screenshotted my apps above (my home screen is “apps I use nearly every day,” my second screen is “apps I use sometimes”). Who did the WaPo think I was?

As a reminder: I am a single woman, 34 years old, who made $63,000 last year.

Why did the WaPo think I was a twenty-something dude?

As you can probably tell from the quiz, popular apps with no direct relation to your gender or income can be indicators of both. If you have Pinterest on your phone, you’re almost definitely a woman; if you have Uber, you’re probably single. Single adults listen to music on SoundCloud. Older adults prefer iHeartRadio. Meanwhile, people who earn more than $52,000 a year tend to get their restaurant reviews on Yelp — while people turn to Foursquare when they’re making less than that.

“If you have Uber, you’re probably single” is maybe the most ridiculous thing I’ve read in a while—but I live in an urban area where everyone has rideshare apps on their phones, even the married folk. (Also, WaPo? Uber is out and Lyft is in, at least in the Pacific Northwest. Get on board with the trends.)

I’ve also never really gotten into SoundCloud, but I’ve never used iHeartRadio either. I get my music from Pandora and Amazon, which means “I started using music apps eight years ago and never felt the need to change.” (This, more than anything else, is an indicator that I’m getting old.)

Now it’s your turn, if you’re willing to take the quiz and share your results. Did the WaPo successfully guess your income and your age? Or is this quiz the media equivalent of “this color swirl test will determine your actual personality type?”

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