Fintech Mobile App Friction Ranking [Device Change]

Changing devices is a regular, routine consumer activity and with the release of the new iPhone 13 many users will be changing out their smartphones. In 2020, current smartphone owners were responsible for the purchase of 96% of smartphones sold in the US. With the high volume of device changes happening, businesses with mobile apps should invest in the best experience possible to support users changing devices.

Incognia recently launched our latest Mobile App Friction Report - Device Change edition, which focuses on how much friction financial service mobile apps present to their users when login into mobile app accounts with a new device. Incognia has tested 24 mobile apps divided into two main categories: Banking / Financial Services and Investing / Trading.

The results of our study show that changing out a device is far from frictionless.

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On average, changing a device could require up to 40 minutes for re-authentication

With the average person having on average 40 apps installed on their phone, it can be a daunting task for users to authenticate a new device with all their apps. There was a large difference between the time to log in across all the apps. For the apps reviewed, the longest time to log in with a new device was 1 minute and 38 seconds, and the fastest login time was 21 seconds. For users to re-authenticate, all their apps could take on average 40 minutes and depend on the apps for more than an hour. 

With new smartphones being launched every year, we wanted to understand how much friction do users go through when authenticating on financial service apps with a new device? The Incognia Device Change Friction Index offers a vehicle to compare friction across apps.

The calculation of the index takes into account the number of screens presented to the mobile user, the number of fields the user has to fill in and the amount of time needed to complete the authentication on the mobile app with a new device.

Lowest Device Change Friction Index

The category winners for the financial service app with the lowest Device Change Friction Index are:

• Winner Banking / Financial Services - Klover
• Winner Investment / Trading - E-Trade

The E-Trade app was the overall winner with the lowest Device Change friction.

Here is the full list of tested mobile apps, with the Device Change Friction Index rankings. 

To read a full review and analysis of each app, download the full report here.