Study conducted using common search queries.
YouTube is the platform where users most commonly forget their passwords.
According to research by Heepsy of 35 popular platforms, collecting data from three common search queries: "[Platform] password reset," "[Platform] forgot password," and "[Platform] recover account."
YouTube ranks first with 35.8K password-related searches per 100K users, resulting in 4.3 average password resets per user yearly. The platform records the highest absolute number of password-related searches at over 1.4 billion, primarily driven by "forgot password" queries.
Facebook comes in second, generating 28.2K password recovery searches, while Pinterest is third with 20,000 password-related queries.
Tabi Vicuña, Founder of Heepsy, commented on the study: "The psychology behind password retention reveals fascinating human behaviour patterns. Services used passively create more authentication friction than those where users actively create and communicate. When credentials are requested infrequently across devices, our brains effectively 'un-learn' access patterns."
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
