Men who have sex with men (MSM) are the group at highest risk of acquiring HIV in the UK, and an estimated one in five HIV‐positive MSM is undiagnosed 1. Mathematical modelling suggests that increasing the uptake of HIV testing and its frequency combined with antiretroviral treatment could reduce the incidence of HIV infection 2, 3, 4. Testing those at high risk every 3 months is cost saving when compared with annual testing 5. However, in the UK, HIV incidence is not decreasing 1, 6 and high proportions of newly diagnosed men have not previously tested 7, 8. Increases in the uptake of HIV testing in high‐income countries have been widely reported 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, but we have demonstrated a stabilization in recent HIV testing among MSM in Scotland, which suggests that the current opt‐out testing approach (whereby all patients are offered a test regardless of symptoms or risk factors) has reached its limit in maximizing routine uptake 16. Innovative methods of increasing the uptake of testing are required 4. Investigations of the psychosocial, sociocultural and technological aspects of testing will enable interventions to be developed which reduce barriers to testing, and promote frequent testing among high‐risk MSM 17.