New technologies such as smartphones and ‘apps’ make it possible to collect data for survey research in a different way. People usually carry their smartphone with them throughout the day, using it regularly. This implies that researchers can easily reach people, and in addition to asking survey questions can also collect other information about the respondent. In this research, a collaborative venture between The Netherlands institute for Social Research ¦ SCP and CentERdata (Tilburg University, the Netherlands), data are collected about the time use of participants using smartphones. The data are collected from the LISS panel, an online panel operated by CentERdata, which is based on a probability sample. Panel members who do not own a smartphone are able to borrow one from CentERdata. Before the actual time use survey began, experiments were conducted involving both smartphone users and non-users, and produced promising results. The possibilities and difficulties of smartphone data collection for this type or survey research are discussed in this paper.