How COVID-19 Drove Comms & Fintech App Growth
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Social distancing sure does leave a lot of room for our biggest fears to pull us close. Early in the COVID-19 shutdowns, fears of loneliness, isolation, finances and the future grew immensely. Luckily, resilience against the unknown is what humankind is known for. Well, resilience… and technology.
The mobile market has thrived even as other markets have struggled to survive. Since February 2020, monthly hours in-app across the mobile market have been reaching well over 200 billion. Global organic installations exploded at the start of March as the United States trended into a fever pitch with immediate COVID fears.
When physical institutions couldn’t serve us, mobile apps remained a steadfast ally for learning to work and socialize remotely, as well as reprioritizing financial awareness. As we follow the timeline, it’s clear to see how a rise in financial risk and social isolation pushed people towards a fear-based “boom” in communications and fintech app use.
Here are some of the ways we began to shine a light on the monsters in the dark during the COVID-19 outbreaks.
Setting The Foundation for Virtual Living
Financial and communication mobile apps met some of our most critical needs during the lockdown transition. At the top of the agenda was the move to remote workplaces and classrooms. The lack of tech infrastructure for remote work and education meant highly-scalable, turnkey tech solutions were essential.
Zoom had the perfect positioning to take the world by storm. Hassle-free use (plus a short stint of free premium service) undoubtedly boosted Zoom’s climb in the app charts. AppAnnie notes Zoom as a powerful “breakout app” with the highest business app growth across a whopping 141 global markets in March 2020.
Amid the loss of traditional teller-based banking, virtual finance options were another rising need. Consumers leaned into mobile banking to replace physical branches around this time. China and the U.S. saw 15% and 35% growth respectively in weekly hours spent in finance apps. Meanwhile, South Korea and Japan both saw 85% growth for time in-app.
Want to dig more into the numbers? Download our report, A Story of Resilience: The Mobile Market In the Waves of a Pandemic.
Facing Social Isolation With Virtual Meetups
Coming back to March 2020’s breakout star, Zoom did far more than become a staple WFH tool. The app’s use stretched into personal life also, with many people holding social gatherings in virtual video spaces in lieu of in-person hangouts. Friends and family chatted, held board game nights, virtual book clubs and even Netflix parties — all from their own homes.
Houseparty especially made its mark as host to many private game nights with it’s own rise in the iOS App Store charts. With average user time in app surpassing 60 minutes per session, Houseparty made its biggest leaps in the midst of Spain and Italy’s stiff shutdowns — as high as 2360 times it’s previous install counts in Spain, specifically.
That’s not to say there weren’t plenty of other communication apps that had a super bloom of their own. Messaging apps like WeChat, WhatsApp, and GroupMe all had their spotlight.
Braving Financial Insecurity for a Better Future
The January-to-May leap in open rates for financial apps alone has been a sign of value shift and necessity — moving from 14% to 25%. Even with January’s standard app use uptick that follows New’s Year’s resolutions, 2020’s numbers are very different from the norm.
App-assisted financial planning was key during these early months of uncertainty. US consumers devoted 80% more weekly hours in trading and stock monitoring apps between January and March, with Robinhood hoarding an eye-popping 40% of time in the top 5 stock market apps. Ease of use in apps like Robinhood never ceases to give users confidence, especially when they’re attempting to DIY their investments within their comfort level of risk.
So, what’s got everyone eyeing their finances?
For starters, income loss has affected many people whether they’re in the gig economy or holdouts from the days of chasing single-income stream “job security.” With 49% of US adults living paycheck-to-paycheck and 53% without a 3-month emergency fund, too many are left without padding from an economic crash. Add in the European markets seeing a whopping 72% boost in fintech app use, and it’s clear these fears are international as well.
The early days of COVID-19’s spread sparked a wildfire of fear, but it’s safe to say that all has not been completely grim. We have the mobile app market to thank for that, even if the result was a short-lived bit of reassurance and reconnection. Fear is only a temporary motivator, fading as we become numb to the fright and move into our “new normal.” Still, overall downloads and engagement across communication and finance apps has been higher than ever. Only time will tell if the lasting effects of ongoing outbreaks may ripple into the future of the mobile app economy.
Originally written by Dane White. He writes about finance and technology. Learn more about him at: bydanewhite.com.
