Can someone explain the graph?

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1

On the home screen at the top there is a graph. I can’t get my head around it. What is it supposed to be displaying, what is it’s behaviour supposed to be? (This is on iOS)

I can see the graph move as I scroll through my transaction list, but it doesn’t seem to track in any reliable way.

For example, I have a single transactions on the 17th, 21st and 22nd of Sept.

If I scroll the transaction list to show the 17th at the top, the graph is labelled with “18 SEP”, SPENT == the amount from the 17th.

If I scroll so 21st is at the top, the graph is labelled with “22 SEP”, but now SPENT == the amount from the 21st and 22nd added together. BALANCE is correct.

If I scroll a little higher and then back down again, the graph is labelled with “21 SEP” and the same combined total of the 21st and 22nd for SPENT. BALANCE == the amount from shown from the 18th!

Is this not madness?

If I scroll to the most recent transaction, the behaviour is very unpredictable. The most recent transaction is from yesterday (possibly uncleared?), and the penultimate transaction is from the 4th Nov.

  • Sometimes the graph disappears entirely. (Scrolling back down to older transactions makes it reappear)
  • Sometimes the graph is labelled with “5 NOV”, but BALANCE is accurate for now. The label line goes through a dot that is at the same Y-axis height as the most recent transaction.
  • Sometimes the graph is there with no label.
  • Sometimes the white dot that the “5 NOV” label line goes through on the graph is higher than the most recent transaction dot (and the BALANCE and SPENT is correct).
  • I can’t ever get it to show a label for the most recent transaction by scrolling on the transaction list.
  • If I drag the graph itself, I can get a label for “6 NOV”; dragging all the way to the right shows SPENT of £0, a few pixels to the left shows a SPENT of my last transaction.
  • After dragging the graph to show “6 NOV”, it always bounces back, but to “3 NOV”. Now it can’t be made to stay on “5 NOV” unless I scroll the transaction list down and up again.

As for scrolling the graph to the left to see past transactions, I have no idea what’s going on. If I want to see what caused a particular change in Y-axis, it won’t let me. For example, I did a top-up on the 3rd Oct. The graph either “magnetically sticks” to “8 OCT” (showing my BALANCE from after the top-up). Or the graph jumps back to “7 SEP”, but the transaction list scrolls itself to “22 SEP”. I can’t get it to stay on the point the graph changed Y-axis height, nor bring the top-up transaction of the 3rd to the top of the transaction list (by only scrolling on the graph).

Generally speaking I also find it confusing that when scrolling the transaction list, the graph changes label and Y-axis height before the causative transaction is visible in the transaction list.

Am I the only one who finds all this bewildering?

2

I’ve not been able to work it out either, it also tends to get stuck and takes a lot of scrolling back and forth to get it to move again.
I do use it to see if my money will last to the end of the month or if I need to spend less, I find it quite good to get a rough idea.

3

How are you able to interpret the graph to “see if my money will last to the end of the month”?

My default view is the last transaction or two on the left, then the graph slopes down to zero on the right. Is this supposed to mean something?

4

@sendu There’s a lot going on here and we’re looking into recreating this behaviour to get to the bottom of the issue. Essentially, the pulse graph is supposed to show your spending throughout the month in a clear and easy to understand way - which it doesn’t seem to be doing too well in your case!

The syncing of the graph position, feed scroll position, and labels are likely to seem off if there are big gaps in your usage, which could go some way to explaining what you are seeing.

5

Depending on how fast I’m spending money the end of the graph on the right moves up and down. If the graph reaches the end I’m good, if it gets to zero before the end I need to spend less.
The problem I have at the moment is my rent which comes out at the end of the month and screws up the graph. I’m keeping rent money in a separate account at the moment until the day before it’s due. Patiently waiting for pots which will hopefully mean I can separate bill money at the start of the month.

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6

In the fullness of time, I think we’re also looking for the graph to be more intelligent about repeated payments so it will understand about the rent at the end of the month and display accordingly.

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7

Agree that would be ideal. Not sure how to make its behaviour logical and obvious though. Some design challenges there for the team I think…

8

Kill the graph! Or at least make it toggleable, before it comes to Android and clutters my beautiful app. :smirk::smirk:

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9

I love that the CA app doesn’t have it now :joy: I’d forgotten what having all the space was like!

10

Monzo’s graph and Starling’s ‘pulse’ (pie chart) are designers’ indulgences that users care little for and, ideally, don’t want.

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11

I feel bad not liking them but they just don’t really work for me. The Starling pulse would be infinitely better if it was weekly or monthly (I’m thinking something like the Life Cycle app visually, broken down into categories/ stores), and if it was moved somewhere else (I’d prefer to see transactions first). The graph on Monzo would be useful for people who budget or put in a set amount each month/ use overdrafts, but I just spend as I go and don’t bother with saving or anything.

12

Lol, ‘just spend as I go’.

I did that last month and spent nearly six grand. I have to budget to some extent otherwise I’ll be broke before I know it!

The graph is helpful for me to reign it in, i see quite a lot of people don’t like it but hope we can keep it for people who use it.

I used to use an external budgeting tool but doing it in my banking app is much better

13

I also don’t really care for the graph so I tend to ignore it completely

14

Same, I hate it and I have said this many a time but for some reason it is forced on us as it’s supposed to be ‘useful’ for everyone…

15

I agree the graph really isn’t that useful. I get that it might be more useful in time if you have DD and salary going in and out through your Monzo account. If however you’re using it as a “spending account” as Monzo say you can then why do you need the graph? We should at least be able to toggle it

16

I have said this to @hugo loads of times but alas he won’t change it :disappointed_relieved:

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17

I have a separate app for tracking my spending across banks, PayPal, and wallets, so that might be one reason why I’m not using it. I really do like the spending tab though. I like setting visible limits to each category (not so much busting them almost every month) but my budgeting mostly is just me telling myself that I don’t need something :woman_shrugging:t2:

Starling pulse is less visually appealing imo, but after you swipe past that annoying screen on there, it is just transactions which is great. If the pulse graph could integrate more info upon tapping like this amazing design project suggested (Theoretical Design Ideas for Master's Project) I would appreciate it a lot better.

18

Come on, you know this is not me not wanting to change something just to make you unhappy :frowning: I’d kill for each and every of you to love 100% of the details of our app. The reality, unfortunately, is that every decision we make carries a trade-off (or many!) associated and sometimes what works for some people doesn’t work for some other people.

If we’re persevering with the pulse is because, right now, it’s a structural piece for many of the features that we have in the pipeline. Things like explaining that a direct debit is coming in 2 days, or that you’re getting closer to your overdraft limit are much easier to explain over pulse than using a list. It allows you to navigate the timeline of your account to the past and future and predict when you’ll be running out of cash (again, something very difficult to visualise without a graph).

Don’t get me wrong, this might change in the future as we find better solutions but for now I can only ask you for a leap of faith. Bear with us and once you see all these features falling in place we can revisit it all :slight_smile:

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19

Thanks for replying @hugo I understand what you are saying and where you are coming from believe me I do but for me and I am guessing many others none of that is relevant… I know when I am gonna run out of money just by looking at my balance and as all my direct debits come out on the 1st after I have been paid the future doesn’t really matter.

I know a lot of people on here would love it and a lot of people hate it, all I (like many others) am just asking for a toggle on or off, I don’t understand how having it hidden would damage the app as it were…

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20

I’ve requested the same in the other place.