iOS - Wise International Transfers hanging when using Emoji in Reference

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#1

Issue: When putting an emoji in the reference field for a Wise International Transfer, it will hang on the next page and not complete the transfer

Details to reproduce:

  • Start an International Transfer to a payee
  • When prompted for the payment reference, using the default iOS keyboard, put an emoji in to it ie “Enjoy Dinner! :plate_with_cutlery:”
  • It will take you to the next page and then when you confirm the transfer, prompt for Face ID but then it will sit indefinitely on a blank screen with a spinner
  • Going back to the previous page and removing the emoji from the reference will allow the transfer to go through

OS: iOS 16.1
Device: iPhone 12
App Version: 5.5.0 #868

Screenshots: I have a video I can provide but there is sensitive details in it - can send it on to a Monzo employee at request

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#2

The payment will be sent through the banking system in data files which don’t support emojis.

Perhaps Monzo or Wise could add something in to strip out invalid characters in a transaction reference, but the easiest thing would be not to use them in the first place, as the recipient is not going to receive them.

#3

Yeah, I figured it was either the Monzo backend not being able to handle them or the Wise API giving back a response it wasn’t expecting - I know at the App level you can tell iOS not to allow the emoji keyboard so I thought the fact it was allowed here meant they could go through.

For any developers reading this I think if you set the iOS keyboard style to asciiCapable it should disable the emoji button!

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