Freeze Card Based on Apple Watch proximity?

Feedback & Ideas
1

I had my phone/wallet combo stolen this weekend. I wasn’t able to immediately Freeze the card because I needed to get to another device to do so.

When I did log in to another device, I could see that the thief was attempting to make contactless purchases on it, which were being declined because (luckily for me) he was trying to spend in excess of the £8 on the card.

I’m wondering if there’s an Apple Watch solution for this…? For example, would it be possible, based on the present iOS/WatchOS development kits, to Freeze the card based on the phone’s proximity to the Apple Watch? That is to say, as soon as the phone loses bluetooth connection with the watch, the app freezes the card in the background and once it re-establishes a connection, the card automatically defrosts.

I continue to be surprised that Apple haven’t included a feature like this themselves… I would expect the watch to be able to give you a little nudge when you’ve walked out of the range of your phone, to prevent you from leaving it somewhere.

2 Likes
3

What if I leave my phone/watch at home though?

4

I suppose this is a feature request for Freeze Card on WatchOS now right? As Danny said, leaving one at home could be something someone may do deliberately.

5

Sure, it would have be an option one could toggle on and off in the main app.

But personally, I never leave home without my Watch. Because it’s my watch.

6

Funny enough, Apple did build this kind of functionality as something internally named NanoLeash but for some reason it has never been publicly available or active.

7

I didn’t know that.

It seems like such a no brainer.

8

I’m not sure that there is a technical solution to the worst case scenario you have encountered.

If any one of your devices runs out of battery, data, or signal, the connection to the watch cannot be verified and you have a useless piece of coral plastic in your wallet. Additionally you could be in a dangerous situation where your watch has just died and now you can no longer access money. Unless I misunderstood the idea?

@tristan What is the course of action if your wallet & phone is stolen say, while you are in a foreign country (as the worst case scenario)? Thanks

9

save the number on the back of the card somewhere and call it. :mondo: can’t do anything until you have reported your card as stolen/lost etc.

When I travel, I keep a list of all important phone numbers just in-case / they are all on icloud.

11

Good advice - I have just added all my bank card numbers into my phone (iCloud). I am a seasoned traveller with Passport scans backed up, but didn’t think of this!

…my assumption is although there is a freeze card functionality, this is not enough if you know your card has been stolen and it should be reported to Mondo immediately.

12

Yeah, that’s all valid

13

I’m just jealous I don’t have an apple watch :laughing:

2 Likes
14

I suppose handling failing battery life starts pushing such a tethering solution into the realms of over-complexity… But perhaps the app could disengage the function when the Apple Watch goes into low power mode (which it does fairly routinely :wink:

15

Ideally, eventually freeze card functionality should be available to a user from as many places as possible. Another smartphone, website, email, phone call, etc. It seems like everyone who would need their card frozen is in a different situation of access to connectivity.

16

If the number is manned 24/7, then it wouldn’t be hard to have a section on the website which links to intercom (or another live chat) where someone could do it immediately without having to call. If the number isn’t manned 24/7 then clearly it couldn’t be immediate.

17

I leave my watch at home sometimes as I have other watches but I mainly leave it at home when I go out on a weekend (as I have smashed it before) or go to festivals where it might get lost/stolen.

1 Like