A case for an iPad app or web-based login?

Mobile only is why monzo will remain a ‘petty cash’ account for me.

You are on holiday and lose your phone but need to quickly make a payment or check something in your account and… nothing?

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I assume you would always take a tablet or PC on holiday with you then ? you wouldn’t trust logging into your bank details on a Hotel/ internet cafe computer would you ?

Well, to be fair, I have never needed access to my banking while on holiday, and wouldn’t be able to access my other accounts without mobile when I’m on holiday either, because my phone is my only computing device I take with me when I go on holidays. Since it had all my passwords, 9 couldn’t log on, even if I got hold of another phone / PC. Holiday isn’t my personal issue

I’d like to take my phablet (mini tablet) away instead of a phone and a tablet. The phablet has WiFi so I can call via the BT and Skype apps, runs various bank apps but not the Monzo app :frowning: Shame you don’t support more Samsung devices. Bet if it was Apple it would run!

You took the words right out of my mouth. It makes perfect sense to have several accounts for various purposes, and in that case, the best purpose for a mobile only account is for spending money.

We don’t have any official support for tablets, but the app does run on iPads as the iPhone/iPad share a common set of hardware and the same app store (but with no promise of support for iPad specific bugs.etc).

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If you are ever having an emergency we have a emergency phone line and a support email address that you can use to get in touch. While we can’t do things like make a payment for you for obvious security reasons, we’ll do our best to help you in any situation.

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Forget holiday then and insert “overseas business trip”.

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We’ve always stated that we want to be a bank that lives on your smartphone, lack of access to the app won’t prevent you using your card and the balance on it or topping it up using a bank transfer from another bank.

Should you be left without access to your phone you can always contact us using the emergency line on the back of your card, or contacting help@monzo.com and we’ll do our best to help.

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While I’m excited for what Monzo has to offer in the future, the issue for me is; If I’ve got my phone and my card/wallet in my bag, and I’ve left my bag on the train, and I’m stuck in London, how am I going to freeze my card, with my Santander, I’d get to the location I was heading and access my bank through there, a web interface is almost a “MUST” for me (Somewhat rhetorical, not looking for an answer, just putting the scenario out there)

In terms of mobile application, it may be worth looking at a PWA (Progressive web app) as I don’t give it more than 10-20 years before instead of installing applications we’ll be bookmarking a PWA to use. Perhaps “Online first” would be better than “Smartphone only”, you’re limiting your target audience by doing smartphone only, it’s one of the reasons some people I know won’t register.

Google is already on this route with their FuchsiaOS, whereby they’re limiting installed apps, and you can bookmark a website and use it the same way you would an application. Microsoft has also moved their focus towards stopping users installing things, and iOS from 10 I think allows you to use PWA’s efficiently.

On another note, you only have to develop for one platform, web. Currently you have a team of Android developers, team of iOS developers and that’s great, making sure the base is covered, however if you had one small team of PWA/Web developers, you’d have an application for Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, iOS, Android, Windows, Consoles, anything that could access the internet.

Infographic on PWAs: https://insanelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/xprogressive-web-apps-infographic-1120x1680.jpg.pagespeed.ic.4CRLJQoCDu.webp

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With pretty much any bank now you’d be hosed… if your phone is gone you lost your 2FA so you can’t log into the web page anyway.

With Barclays, Lloyds and TSB I can log in without a card reader (Barclays have one but you can bypass it by using passwords, passcodes, memorable data) or 2FA…so not sure what you mean by “pretty much any bank”

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Any bank where you want security anyway… Using a web based bank without 2FA isn’t somehing I would do… and being able to bypass it would be an instant ‘close account’ situation for me.

when you see the huge card readers Barclays etc have it is a laugh. Nordea have a number generator about 4cm x 2.5cm and about twice the thickness of a bank card, it is tiny in comparison.

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Yes the first direct one used to annoy the crap out of me… enter code, hold down button for 5 seconds, read off code… want to pay anyone? Repeat, but this time a different button…

I was fairly resistant to 2FA via mobile in the early days because of things like flat batteries/phone upgrades (still have a keyring full of 2FA dongles for various services) but in practice it hasn’t really been an issue & now have over a dozen codes in authy. Of course the side effect is that the phone is absolutely critical for daily use - I’d rather someone took my car than my phone…

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when I first used a phone it was mainly for calls, but now I run so many apps such as banking, maps, email, etc the battery life can’t cope. They should go away from such slim phones and make them twice the depth so they can have a chunkier battery more up to the job.

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I agree. I have an iPhone 6 and have pretty much always needed to keep it in its Mophie Juice Pack (which I can definitely recommend btw).

Yep, I wouldn’t trust this. Which is why I use a VPN.

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?? I use a VPN too but that wouldn’t be any use if I have to log in on a public computer, which is a really bad idea.

The VPN is only any use if logging in on a public network but with your own device. It wouldn’t stop a keylogger on a public computer.

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A mobile only bank could translate to mobile device. A tablet is a mobile device.
A web first bank would sound better.
As much as I hear that a web interface is only an afterthought, it should really be promoted to an actual thing that is rolled out. There is no reason not to have one. All the infrastructure is in place.

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