Sensor Tower: European Payment Application Report 2021

Sensor Tower has released the “2021 European Payment App Report,” an in-depth look at the development trends of digital payment and money transfer mobile apps, as well as analysis of their top publishers and markets.

Top payment apps installed more than 30 million times in Q1 2021

Installations of the top 50 payment apps in Europe grew 31% year-over-year to 102 million in 2020. The strong performance so far this year has continued, with installations of the top payment apps on European app stores surging 32% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2021, to over 30 million from approximately 23 million in the same period last year.

PayPal and Google Pay

PayPal and Google Pay have been the most downloaded payment apps in Europe since 2018, a trend that continued in the first quarter. However, their users are not evenly distributed across the region. PayPal dominates Western and Southern Europe, with consumers concentrated in the UK, Germany, France, and Italy. However, Central and Eastern European consumers prefer Google Pay, which is the most popular payment app in Russia.

A geographic breakdown of the two payment apps' audiences shows PayPal's push eastward in 2020. Last year, PayPal's penetration in Eastern European markets grew significantly, with Romania's PayPal users growing 191% to 365,000 and Ukraine's 156% growth to nearly 600,000 users. The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic also boosted PayPal's installations in the region, while Google Pay saw a downward trend.

PayPal's monthly installs in European app stores grew 27% from 1.5 million in January to 1.9 million in April, while Google Pay's monthly installs fell 38% from 1.6 million to 1 million during the same period.

Western Union retains its position as Europe's top money transfer app

Despite growth in other money transfer apps, such as Wise, Western Union remains the market leader. Installations of the app grew 51% in Europe in 2020 to 4.3 million, dominating markets such as France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. However, in the UK, the gap between Western Union and Wise is much smaller.

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