Insurtech on the rise: one in ten in UK now use insurance apps

An analysis of insurance apps in the Google Play Store has revealed that one in ten (10%) adults in the UK now could be using Android apps to manage their insurance policies.

The survey by app marketing analytics platform App Radar looked into four different insurance sectors including motor, travel, life and home insurance. Overall, the insurance apps analysed had 40% more downloads in 2022 (2.2m) compared to 2021 (1.6m).

The total lifetime Google Play downloads reached an estimated 6.9 million at the end of 2022. When taking into account Apple App Store downloads, the total in 2022 could have been as high as 13.8 million.

The most popular insurance app, in terms of lifetime Google Play Store downloads, was Hastings Direct Insurance with 1.2 million downloads, followed by Cuvva with 1.1 million, Holiday Extras with 1 million and MyAviva with 652,000.

Post Office Travel (256%), Travel Mate – Cedar Tree (249%), Holiday Extras (190%), Dayinsure (100%), Rooster Car Insurance (91%) experienced the biggest percentage download growth in 2022 when compared to 2021.

When looking at 2022 downloads, the top five apps were Hastings Direct Insurance (392k), Holiday Extras (373k), Admiral Insurance (246k), MyRAC (201k), Cuvva (170k).

Silvio Peruci, Managing Director, App Radar, said: “Reports are claiming that the global insurtech sector is expected to be worth almost $30bn by 2026 from $8bn in 2021. For the UK specifically, the market is ripe for growth with an estimated £50bn potential revenue opportunity from disruption.

“This should serve as a warning sign for the incumbents that dominate the market with legacy technology. Start-ups in this area are hungry to disrupt and make insurance easy for their customers with new tech. Cuvva, for example, is the second most downloaded insurance app in the Google Play Store, according to our analysis, with DriveScore, Caura, Dayinsure and Rooster joining the race for app users.

“As the cost of living crisis continues throughout the year, competition among insurance companies for new app users will only increase. What’s more challenging is that consumers are used to shopping around for the best quote when it comes to insurance policies. One way to retain and gain customers is to offer the best user experience and features that they need, in addition to competitive policy pricing. As the insurtech sector continues to grow in uncertain economic times, app developers and marketers will need to undertake thorough market research to understand their customers’ needs to be able to cut through the noise.”