Paris, France – 21 May 2025 – New research from (Nasdaq: AMPL), the leading digital analytics platform, has revealed why French consumers have no patience when it comes to poor app experiences. 

, which surveyed 2,000 smartphone users in France, reveals that a degraded mobile consumer experience – meaning slow loading, bugs, or poor navigation – has an immediate impact on brand loyalty and longevity. In fact, 72% of French consumers say they’re ready to ditch a brand altogether after encountering app issues.

Poor app experiences are damaging the relationship between consumers and brands. The study reveals that to retain customers, an app’s reliability matters far more than its appearance: 84% of consumers prefer a simple app that works flawlessly over a sleek interface that’s unstable.

"When a brand’s app experience falls short, the long-term customer impact is detrimental,” said Jeremy Grinbaum, Vice President of EMEA South at Amplitude. “Brands that don’t prioritize a seamless, frictionless app experience will never win the loyalty and trust of consumers. These growing app frustrations demonstrate the need for businesses to double down on understanding the full customer experience across every touchpoint of the brand.”

The main factors that cause user frustration are:

• Bugs (76%), long loading times (72%), and un-intuitive navigation (72%) rank as top frustrations. These issues go well beyond minor annoyances – they disrupt usage, impact brand perception, and lead to app abandonment.
• Even seemingly minor friction points – such as intrusive pop-ups (67%), text that’s too small (66%), or buttons that are hard to tap (65%) – contribute to consumer frustration.
• Social media apps, followed by work-related apps and banking/finance apps rank at the top of the list for the most frustrating apps to engage with for consumers. Even these essential apps are not immune to being abandoned if the user experience becomes too frustrating.

French consumers are more selective than ever

On a typical French smartphone, 41 apps are installed on average, but only 12 apps are used weekly.

Consumers are also streamlining their digital behavior, with 43% intentionally limiting downloads and 42% regularly deleting unused apps. An app that doesn’t deliver quickly is either ignored or deleted. To stay on the home screen, brands must offer useful, seamless, and frictionless experiences.

Additional key findings from the report:

• Consumers are impatient: 43% exit an app within the first few minutes if it doesn’t work properly.
• Poor design sparks outrage: 47% of people say they feel “enraged” by interface issues. This reaction is especially strong among younger generations, with 58% of Gen Z and 56% of Millennials sharing this sentiment.
• Gen X is the most likely to ditch a brand altogether: 76% of Gen X will abandon a brand completely after encountering a poor app experience, compared to 59% for Gen Z.
• Super apps are most appealing to younger people: 57% of French consumers are interested in “all-in-one” apps that combine services like banking, transport, messaging, etc. This rises to 63% among Gen Z.

The full report, including detailed data and recommendations for brands, is available (charts available upon request).