Two second google, article from 2014. So its been around the same time, with a nice reference to Angry Birds included.
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iOS 7 Guest mode in 2014!
The OP has not phrased this in the best way, has been antagonistic, and it has got peoples backs up.
When you compare the suggestion to some that are posted, this one clearly has merit. It is clearly a hang over from when this was a prepaid card (because the menu includes ‘add money’). It should not be there for a fully fledged bank account by default unless explicitly allowed by the user IMO. I just checked some other banks and they do not have this, in fact some of them display a message telling you to login to see your balance.
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Thats what I would expect to see, as you mention it does look like Monzo forget this existed.
The problem now is we can see this is an issue, it could have 400 votes instead of 4 and still not be worked on.
Temporary solutions if you’re not wanting people to know your balance, that might know about long holding on the app:
- Don’t give you phone to untrusted people or stay watching them like a
whilst they use it, and go “ah bub bub buh, what do you think you are doing?” if they try nosing about after making the call - Give the child something to use that isn’t your phone, like a cheap second hand £30 Android phone would play Angry Birds and most apps
- Turn on guided access to lock them to a specific app.
- Throw your iPhone in the bin and turn to the dark side so you can make use of guest/multiple user mode.
And there is still no apology or remorse from the OP 
Well I’ve learned something new from reading this – Guided Access!
I learned that, as a group, we still confuse security and privacy.
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The question I always have for people who raise ‘security’ issues that are actually privacy issues is; “if you hand me your unlocked phone, can I access your email?”
It’s all very well having your windows made out of the toughest frames, with the strongest glass and a multi-point locking system, but if you’re going to leave the front door open anyway…
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No it requires touch ID
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The Santander app widget shows the current account balance without authorisation.
You need to activate the Santander feature in the app first. That was the OP’s whole point about Monzo.
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Is this a good or bad time to resurrect my war on toggles?
Go for it, although this one has more merit than most.
It doesn’t worry me but I can see the need for a control mechanism for this within the app rather than outside it. Purely because it’s an external feature, hiding the enabler behind whatever app security the user chooses to use makes some sense.
So for this privacy feature I’d allow a toggle.
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just as a note…
I raised this through chat who after being passed around 5 different specialists have confirmed it’s a bug
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the funny thing is it’s likely not a bug because of working exactly as intended at the time. I would say they probably forgot it existed from working on other things for the last few years. It may be on a todo list somewhere of features that need improving, or if it wasn’t hopefully is now.
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Yeah, a bug is something that doesn’t work as designed. This looks like it works exactly as it was designed to. The question here is whether the design is appropriate, not whether the code is flawed in some way.
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Probably less damaging to go 
these days, rather than “in hindsight it should have probably been auth from inside the app but we did it quickly and thought it was cool at the time. You’re probably one in 4 million customers that knows it does that, even the devs that wrote the code forgot it did that.”
Customer: I’ve just tapped on x and it’s wiped out my entire balance!!
Customer support: I think it’s a
Customer: oh that’s fine then.
Yh, i did say I thought it was an oversight rather than bug, but at least they’re aware I guess
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Why is my niece playing on your phone?! That’s my big question…
But in seriousness, I agree with the concept of “this info should be toggleable”. I was surprised to see I could see the info on my widget screen, when my phone is locked. It looks like other banks do a good implementation of this too.
Personally I’m not overly worried about the info being accessible - it’s not like it’s actionable info - other than my friends can relentlessly mock me for how perpetually poor I am…
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@BritishLibrary what is your niece going to do when she finds out that info? Carry on playing Angry Birds?
Or was it a reconnaissance mission and you secretly befriended Js38wju3jda in the chance that there might be a situation where your niece could use their phone and you told her to how to access the account balance “pretending to play Angry Birds” for your own personal gain. 
On a more serious note do people carry large account balances or you know keep it in savings.
Maybe trying to avoid the “You better get me decent presents this year 
uncle Js38wju3jda”.
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