Humans Are Predictable, and Therefore So Are Our Lockscreen Patterns

New research now suggests that Android users frequently create lock screen patterns that are similar to each other and that are not nearly as complex as they can be. The research, conducted by a recent graduate of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, found that 77 percent of Android lock screen patterns start in one of the four corners of the screen, with 44 percent of them starting in the top left corner. These patterns also generally move from the top down and from the left to the right, further limiting their robustness.

This is notable because lock screen patterns were originally couched in 2008 by Google as being just as secure as traditional alphanumeric passwords, but without all the nastiness of having to remember a string of random letters and numbers. Which, incidentally, is why why experts generally recommend that people use password managers like LastPass or 1Password, that way they only have to remember one master password to access all of their accounts.

“Humans are predictable,” the researcher, Marte Løge, told Ars Technica, noting that people do in fact have similar considerations when it comes to creating Android lock screen patterns as they do when creating alphanumeric passwords—namely that they’re not too long and are easy to remember. Then again, Android users may have more pressing concerns than someone obtaining physical access of their device.