The amount of time U.S. consumers spend on mobile finance apps has jumped 35% since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in a trend that is likely to continue beyond the pandemic.

The average number of hours spent per week on finance apps in the U.S. increased to about 21 million in March, compared with about 15 million in December 2019, according to fresh data from App Annie, a mobile data and analytics platform, and Liftoff, a mobile app marketing platform. In February, when the coronavirus outbreak hit the U.S., finance app usage was hovering at around 16 million hours.

And not only are existing customers spending more time on finance apps, but there has been a global increase in the number of finance app downloads.

“If you take a look at where we are today compared to where we were entering February, we’re seeing weekly downloads of finance apps up 30% worldwide,” said Amir Ghodrati, director of market insights at App Annie.

The spike in overall usage accelerates a trend that was already gaining steam, as the total number of U.S. finance app sessions saw a 10% uptick between 2017 and 2019.

While the usage of finance apps is “likely to drop at least a little,” when the pandemic passes and the economy opens up, the current shift to mobile apps could have a lasting impact.

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“The new level of use will be noticeably higher than it was before COVID-19,” Ghodrati said. “Once people get used to the ease and convenience of mobile, they’re going to be more open to continuing those experiences for finance.”

The shift to mobile could also accelerate the development of additional mobile functionality for apps in the U.S., Ghodrati added. “Quite a few other countries are more advanced when it comes to the level of financial interaction you can have on mobile, some of which is due to industry regulations,” he said. “The surge in demand in the market could further along the wave of fintech here.”

San Francisco-based App Annie analyzes data from more than 8 million apps and thousands of websites to derive downloads, transaction patterns, usage and advertising metrics. The company has 1 million users globally and more than 1,1000 enterprise clients, including LinkedIn, United Airlines, Coca-Cola and Pinterest.