Anyone notice iOS design coming into the android app? Most notably the options bar at the bottom; doesn’t seem to quite belong, at least to me.
Anyone else get the same vibe?
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Yeah, it’s really improving.
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For anyone who’s new, Chris is trolling, please lets not turn this into an argument about which platform’s design standards are better 
For me, what matters is whether the design enhances the user experience or not.
For anyone who’s not got the beta version of the Android app, here’s what the new navigation bar looks like -
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Which I think it does. I turned on my Android last night. It’s a good update.
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User experience is one thing, but before this gets into the stable version, there really needs to be some design changes.
I mean just look at that screenshot, it looks so out of place. I will concede that it’s now a lot easier to navigate around but like, that thing at the bottom just doesn’t look very… Android.
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As I always say, any change to a design is going to seem strange for a while, until you get used to it - see every redesign of your favorite social media site ever. If you’re still bothered by it in a couple of months then that’s when I’ll start to worry.
To point out the key benefits:
- No more hidden functionality
- Easy access to tabs like the Card tab which is about to get a lot more useful when Pots are released
- Easier support, as the paths to different features are the same for iOS & Android
The only potential downside that I can see is reduced space for the feed, especially once the Pulse Graph is added, which might impact users with small phones - but on the whole, Apple users seem to be coping ok & how many transactions do you need to see at once 
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I think the bottom nav bar is part of Android guidelines now isn’t it?
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I disagree. The bit that looks out of place is the large gap at the top between the word Monzo and the balance/spend area.
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I didn’t think I’d like it but after playing around with it for a day, I prefer it 
As I said here 
But as for it being “a little iOSy” I agree but disagree at the same time.
The bottom navigation is defined in Google’s Material.io guidelines
As long as it’s implemented correctly (which I can’t say if it is or isn’t) then I’m more than happy with what Monzo is doing
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Thanks have just enrolled to beta testing of monzo app. Hope you don’t mind.
It’s there for you to use. Monzo like feedback, whether it’s critical or positive.
Not at all, you might want to join the #android channel in the developer’s Slack too if you’re on the beta, to let the team know about any bugs directly.
Guess it’s just me then. 
I don’t mean to get the wrong impression across, I prefer how much easier the navigation is now. I just wish it looked less iOSy.
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If it had been built in the Android app 1st, users would be saying it looked ‘Androidy’ when it was rolled out to the iOS app 
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not wishing to open up the better phone, more users, less development discussion again surely IF you are going to change phones OS from apple to android - or the other way around its good that there are similarities in design to make it more easily navigable - or do android / apple users think their systems should be unique ? - there Ive opened it up again
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While I agree to some degree, it more about the expectation of an android app working a particular way.
I don’t really mind it that much, although to me it does look less “androidy” with the bottom bar, however this type of navigation is within the material guidelines.
I just had a quick flick through the apps on my phone and I could only find 2 (other than Monzo) that use bottom bar navigation, Facebook Messenger and Reddit. Everything else either uses the sidebar or nothing. Particularly of note is that all the google apps use sidebar navigation, and I would expect that anyone who is used to the android ecosystem would be aware that pulling from the left would open up the sidebar with extra options.
I guess in this case the less used pages are “relegated” to the sidebar, whereas the common pages are shown in the bottom bar.
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I shared some feedback on #android slack channel. I can’t make a decision yet, but it does feel a bit weird - I used ‘ios navigation slapped on android app’ phrase 
. Even with bottom navigation bar being in Material Design, it’s definitely not the most popular option on android apps.
I liked it without nav bar because it looked less cluttered. Personal opinion, even future functionalities that will be added (making navigation bar more useful) couldn’t justify more clutter due to nav bar for me. Other users might prefer it, but I’d be quite happy to go for hamburger icon all the time.
There were many articles written that the the fact that bottom nav bar was added to Material Design, doesn’t mean everyone can use it because it exists. It has to make sense from design point of view:
I totally get what @awn is saying, it doesn’t feel trully natural. I think it might feel more natural after some time, but I’d still prefer to access views from hamburger icon, like I do for majority of my apps. Many apps do sport a different nav bar approach between operation systems, so how can it be an argument for Monzo app? Majority of users on X os cannot be exposed to inconvenience for the sake of small % of users who might or might not switch operating system.
And if situation was reversed, iphone got everything hidden under hamburger icon, we would have a total outrage. Why is everyone so surprised that Android users claim to get more ‘iosy’ feel and raise their voice?
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The main reason why we decided to change to bottom navigation is to improve discoverability of features. The percentage of users navigating to Spending or sending money at least once was lower on Android than iOS, so we hope that switching to bottom navigation will improve this. Most key features are now reachable with a single tap, while before they were hidden behind the navigation drawer or the multiple actions FAB.
Whether it looks “iOSy” or not it’s more of a personal opinion. It’s true that bottom tabs is a more common pattern on iOS. However it has also been part of the Material design guidelines for a while and it’s used by many popular apps on Android, e.g. Google Photos, Youtube or Instagram. We aimed to follow the material design guidelines when implementing bottom navigation so the look and feel is similar to other Android apps using bottom tabs.
I know it’s a bit different and it can take a while to get used to, but hopefully it makes navigating much easier than before 
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Well, in many tests, engagement was higher for bottom navigation, I’d probably trust this one the most (for the sake of our discussion, we should ignore how bad hamburger performs on desktop, as it doesn’t really apply to mobile apps). That being said, some apps require high engagement in order to strive, they are attention seekers with YT, Reddit and Facebook matching this criteria exactly. Obviously, those apps go for highest engagement by using bottom navigation.
Monzo doesn’t fall under this category, Monzo should be functional first and Monzo doesn’t make money on ads to push for more ‘clicks’ around the app. Problems with discoverability can be solved in many ways, with most popular - overlay onabording tutorial, which Monzo as an app should definitely have. We wouldn’t get as many questions where is pulse graph or monthly spending report if it was explained to users when they first launch the app.
I’m not saying I totally hate new navigation bar, but I’m very sceptic about it’s existance. I can’t see it solving my problems (and I’m ignoring UX problems caused by the switch completely), because as an android user I know what hamburger menu is. I had more apps teaching me about hamburger, than apps that have bottom nav bar.
Many popular apps on Android are NOT using bottom navigation, Google Play (very information heavy with tons of things), Gmail app (even more stuff), Drive. Are we saying they completely bodged design by not going for navigation bar?
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Can you please explain a bit more about concept here?
Spending tab is agreeably one click away now, while before it was hamburger + Spending.
But sending money is now hidden on a completely different screen, it feels like it’s 1 tap more. Theoretically you had to click FAB and then select from FAB, so arguably still 2 clicks, but processes subjectively felt shorter due to no screen change.
Could be that android users, because app was launched later have less ‘friends’ in closest circles (knowing that people spread the love, but it takes time), that’s why people use this functionality less? Though it wouldn’t have impact on Spending engagement, or it would be neligent.
I’m really interested in any metrics and stats, so if you can share it, I’d be very happy monzonaut, @ivan. 
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