Cozi (http://www.cozi.com/), an online and mobile family calendar and organizer, recently surveyed American families on smartphone usage and must-have apps. The entire family agrees on their most-loved smartphone apps: Facebook, Pandora and Angry Birds were in the top five for moms, dads and children alike.

That may be the one similarity they share, as they differ in many of the ways they use their phones. When it comes to choosing apps and smartphones, moms tend to be more social. Cozi’s survey of nearly 2,000 parents showed that moms are more likely than dads (65% vs. 58%) to get app information from their friends, and twice as likely as dads (10% vs. 5%) to say a friend’s recommendation was the most important factor in choosing a smartphone.

Moms were also more than twice as likely as dads (19% vs. 8%) to say Facebook was the activity they do most on their smartphones. This doesn’t mean dads aren’t engaging in social networks though: When asked which apps they’d be most reluctant to delete, Facebook came in No. 1 across the board.
Moms are twice as likely as dads (48% vs. 24%) to use their smartphones for recipes, while dads are 10% more likely to listen to music on their smartphones. One thing moms and dads do have in common is mobile shopping: 49% of dads and 45% of moms report shopping on their smartphones.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, when asked which apps they would keep if they were only allowed to have three, "Maps" was the No. 5 choice for moms, but ranked much lower for dads, at No. 12. Looks like dads won’t even ask their smartphones for directions.

Moms are also using their smartphones more than dads are. Seventy percent of moms spend at least one hour a day on their smartphones, compared to 63% of dads, and 8% of moms spend more than five hours a day using their smartphones, compared to 6% of dads.

Smartphone usage varies by region, as well. Twelve percent of parents in the South Atlantic region (Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina)report spendingfive or more hours a day on their phones, while just 1% of New Englanders (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut) say they spend five or more hours a day using their phones.

Moms and dads aren’t the only plugged-in members of the family. A majority of school-aged children (52%) now have a smartphone or handheld mobile device. The iPod touch is most popular, with 22%of parents reporting that one or more of their school-aged children owns one. For kids with smartphones, Android is the most popular platform.