Finance app usage continued to grow worldwide through 2024 and into 2025, showing strong double-digit increases in both installs and user engagement, according to a report by mobile measurement and fraud prevention firm Adjust.
Global finance app installs rose 27% year-on-year in 2024, while user sessions increased 24%. The upward trend extended into the third quarter of 2025, with installs up 11% and sessions up 16% compared to the same period the previous year.
Latin America saw the highest growth in the first half of 2025, with installs climbing 59% and sessions rising 70%, followed by Europe with gains of 35% and 42%, respectively. Although APAC and North America experienced small declines in install volumes, both regions recorded strong session growth of 35% and 15%.
Payment apps represented 58% of all sessions but only 42% of installs, indicating high engagement levels. Banking apps accounted for 48% of installs. Users spent more time per session, averaging 6.59 minutes, while stock trading apps showed the highest engagement at 12.06 minutes per session, followed closely by crypto apps at 11.93 minutes. Overall, day-one retention slipped slightly to 12.5%, but banking apps achieved a higher rate of 20.6%.
The report also highlighted a more favorable cost environment for user acquisition. Cost-per-install fell from $1.51 to $1.13, while installs-per-mille increased from 2.46 to 2.76 in the first half of 2025. Cost-per-click dropped to $0.19, and cost-per-mille reached $2.76.
Finance apps increasingly relied on paid channels, with the global paid-to-organic install ratio rising to 1.16 from 0.79 in 2023. Latin America recorded the highest paid skew at 3.77, while several APAC markets also saw elevated levels.
Channel diversification also expanded, as apps partnered with an average of six advertising or media partners, up from 5.7. Stock trading apps averaged 12.8 partners, and payment apps averaged 11.8. The UK and Ireland led in partner diversity, averaging 10.1 partners per app.
At the country level, France posted standout results in the first half of 2025 with installs up 76% and sessions up 146%. Mexico and Vietnam also showed strong performance, with Mexico up 63% in installs and 74% in sessions, and Vietnam up 113% and 55%, respectively.
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