Poor App Development Is a Strategic Risk Fintechs Can No Longer Ignore

In an era where consumers manage their money through their smartphone, mobile apps have become table stakes for trust and retention in financial services. So why are so many fintechs building their digital experiences on shaky foundations? 

The reality is that fintechs cannot deliver the secure, reliable experiences their customers demand without investing in proper mobile-first infrastructure.  This is because iOS and Android are finely-tuned platforms that create unique and complex challenges for development, and poorly managed or buggy releases chip away at customer loyalty.

Top-performing fintechs know they can’t afford these negative interactions. That’s why they are investing in mobile-first infrastructure, rigorous testing and disciplined design: because it’s the only way to build trust with users and boost retention in the increasingly crowded market for digital financial services. 

Mobile is the modern gatekeeper

Opening a new account with the average mobile-first bank takes under ten minutes, and lifelong loyalty to a single financial brand is no longer a given; 34% of Americans already use between three and five financial apps, with 13% of Americans using six or more. Fintechs need to develop their mobile experience with the default assumption that their customer is one click away from competitors if they encounter a glitch or a lag  in their app.

Clunky and slow mobile experiences are more than just an inconvenience for users: they also signal that the fintech is not keeping pace with digital innovation, which leads to growing skepticism about other key user concerns, such as data security and reliability.. This follows through into action, with 65% of users choosing to abandon an app if the mobile experience deteriorates, and 60% of users stating that they would add a second finance app when their primary app lacks essential features. 

In this cut-throat market, first impressions are everything and there is no room for error. In mobile financial services, the stakes are even higher, because a buggy release cannot be quickly rolled back like web apps. Mistakes like this can be catastrophic in financial services, costing fintechs millions in missed business and reputational damage. Even a poorly implemented change to user experiences can alienate customers, with users unable to locate their favourite features or tools, causing frustration and driving away once-loyal customers. 

Painting the complete picture of app performance

Fintechs often sideline mobile development, as it's easy to settle for "good enough" app functions when users aren't voicing complaints. But relying solely on direct feedback is a mistake and doesn’t lead to long-term success. The App Store and Google Play transparently communicate the user consensus of the quality of financial and banking mobile apps. Up to 70% of app store visitors use the search function to discover apps, and users are unlikely to select a fintech app if it’is rated under 4 stars.  Fintechs should aim to have at least 4.5 stars on their app in order to be favoured by an app store algorithm.

Category trending lists are also a popular app discovery tools, with algorithms typically combining average user ratings with download frequency to guide selection.

For granular analysis of what’s working and what’s not, fintechs must collect and analyse user analytics data. Top-line statistics like Daily Active Users (DAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU) help keep track of general app performance, with live monitoring of session length, retention rate and churn rate help mobile teams to analyse how new features are performing. To flag gaps in key infrastructure, fintechs should monitor API latency and load speed alongside app crash and bug reports to build a complete picture of the mobile experience.

And of course, direct customer feedback still has its place and talking to real users is crucial for identifying pain points and missing features. The key is to routinely request this feedback from users. Because remember, many users simply won’t take the time to share the causes of their frustration, they’ll just switch providers without a second thought.

Developing apps in a crowded mobile market

Once fintechs are armed with insights about their mobile performance, they can optimise their platform development to win in a highly competitive market. The foundation for a high-performing mobile app is rigorous, mobile-specific DevOps (developer operations) infrastructure. Investing in mobile DevOps is the best way for fintechs to safeguard their relationships with customers, building the framework and pipelines needed to deliver a consistently excellent mobile experience.

Neobanks such as N26, Monzo, and Chime have captured market share by focusing on mobile-first experiences that prioritise ease of use, speed, and reliability. This focus on seamless customer onboarding via a best-in-class mobile app has supported rapid growth and strong retention rates across markets, creating a new generation of fintech unicorns. Keeping pace with these industry leaders requires a mobile-specific strategy and infrastructure. Owing to tight iOS and Android control of release schedules, rollbacks and app architecture, generic DevOps tools simply don’t stand up to unique demands of development pipelines for mobile. 

The need for mobile DevOps infrastructure is compounded by the fintech industry’s baseline requirement for highly secure data management. Before interacting with digital financial services, customers need to know that their sensitive data is protected. A strong mobile DevOps framework is particularly crucial here, as it allows fintechs to embed automated testing, human reviews, and compliance and security checkpoints throughout the development process, ensuring that any vulnerabilities or potential regulatory concerns are flagged and fixed before release.

Fintechs that prioritise this infrastructure are able to maintain consistent release cycles, minimise errors and ensure performance under pressure. With this baseline in place, product teams can turn their attention to streamlining user journeys and developing stand-out new features without compromising security or reliability. 

Innovation and agility on mobile

Fintechs operate in an environment of constant change, where platform rules, operating system updates, and regulatory shifts often require rapid gearshifts. Data residency, data sovereignty, and privacy laws are evolving across every jurisdiction, placing a high burden on development teams to quickly adapt to new rules and regulations. Compliance with global standards such as PCI DSS and GDPR must be built into every stage of the mobile lifecycle, particularly in the handling of sensitive data like credit card information and personal identifiers. A strong mobile DevOps pipeline is essential to meeting these challenges, enabling teams to build, test, and deploy updates at speed. 

A well-structured pipeline not only bolsters security and agility; it also enables fintechs to innovate. As AI agents and automation tools become more central to personal finance, fintechs must ensure their apps include well-documented, secure APIs that allow for seamless interaction and integration with agent-based frameworks, including MCP and A2A. Through a robust mobile DevOps foundation, fintechs can build or extend their competitive advantage, bringing innovative features to market ahead of their peers.

The fintechs that lead in mobile performance treat their apps not as extensions of their web offering, but as standalone products that require dedicated resources, tailored strategies, and long-term investment. In my next Finextra blog, I will lay out the strategies and infrastructure fintechs can employ to build and maintain a leading mobile app, from setting up robust foundations to sparking a cultural shift. To make sure you don’t miss it, follow me on Finextra or LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/balladaniel/