This feature was mentioned during a news segment Radio X today.
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Oh, I loved Radio X, great San Andreas radio
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Just noticed article 
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It’s a shame it can’t be made into a pop up when you open the app when on a call - that would be amazing, having to go to settings → privacy and security is daunting when you don’t know where to look - I rarely go in there
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Exactly, this is a great feature and shows Monzo can lead the industry in advancing banking with the times. Now, UI people need to ensure this is easily visible/accessible at all times.
If it automatically pops up (even as a notification) when Monzo calls, that would be a very easy way to tell whether it’s a Monzo call or not, however as a lot of phones have notification issues from time to time, it should also be easily accessible from the main screen of the app, so the user can easily check it when they receive a call.
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Maybe a temporary banner at the top of the app “On the phone? click here to verify if it’s from us” with a little Emoji so you know it’s Monzo
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Seems quite an interesting thing. Now, if they had an actual call centre you could ring and speak to humans without going to specialists…
How does this work from a privacy stand point? Presumably for them to know you are/not on the phone they need to monitor this? Unless they’re monitoring activity from fraudulent lines?
Nice to see a return to roots and disruption vs just doing what other banks do
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It’s much simpler than that. The Monzo app doesn’t monitor calls or anything. It always displays “we are not talking to you”, unless they are calling you, in which case I am guessing their system flips a switch and the app shows “talking to you now”. As soon as they hang up, the app will revert to “we are not talking to you”, which is just the default state.
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I suspect, based on how I’ve built and deployed systems like this, they’re monitoring internal lines only, so there’s nothing privacy invasive here.
Really though, the bank should just not be calling you. But if they are, this should be front and centre at the very top of the home feed in the app, and only buried away if they’re not. Build a push notification too. But seriously, don’t call your customers, Monzo, and more pressingly if you’re going to do this, don’t sanction them for not answering like other banks do (Hi Santander!).
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Hey everyone! 
Since this is my first forum post I thought I’d take a second to introduce myself. I’m William and I’m an engineer in our Product Security team. As well as being my first forum post this is also the first product facing feature I’ve shipped at Monzo, so it goes without saying that it’s been a very exciting morning for me 
I wanted to drop in to chat about the main point of feedback from you all so far which is that we need to make this easier to find - we completely agree!
Our priority was getting this feature shipped as soon as it was ready so that it could start protecting customers. Privacy & Security - where it lives now - is a natural home for it but we think it should be elsewhere too. We know we want to put it somewhere easier to find if you’re on a call and you want to quickly check that who you’re speaking to is who they say they are.
There are some fairly clear options for what we could do when we’re actually calling you - we could send you a push or pop it at the top of your home screen. The harder piece is where should we put this when we’re not on the phone with you? If you’re not on a phone call with someone claiming to be from Monzo then the status isn’t really useful for you, so it doesn’t make sense to put it on the home screen permanently. But if you are on the phone and someone is claiming to be from Monzo it would be really handy if it was right there.
We’re currently thinking about this right now as a team and we have some ideas to explore so watch this space for some updates 
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Does iOS allow you access to call status? I would think that it’s something fairly tightly controlled so not sure if you will be able to surface it only when a call is active and the app is opened.
But perhaps you could put it on one of the pester-y screens when people make transfers?
“Are you sure you trust this payee? We are not calling you right now”
“If you are on a call with someone and asked to approve this payment be cautious, we aren’t calling you right now”
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Great to hear there are some ideas.
I think definitely popping a banner/push when you are on a call.
For the more difficult bit of all the rest of the time, I think on payment fraud popups is a useful one, but perhaps in the big plus menu top right too?
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It does.
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Welcome @WilliamRay!
I think this is a great feature, but as others have said, it needs to be in more places.
Monzo could monitor your calls via your phone to show the warning on the homepage, but only if you are in a phone call (and not to Monzo). But the issue with that is allowing the Monzo app to monitor your calls could be a privacy concern for some people. iOS and Android both ask if the app can monitor them, so if my banking app asks if it can monitor my calls, I would be VERY sceptical and it could actually turn people off signing up for an account.
What I would suggest is that any screen where authentication is required (or should if it doesn’t already), such as:
- sending money to someone knew
- revealing account/card details
- authenticating a payment
This is where a warning would show (without adding any extra steps) since Monzo would NEVER ask you to do these.
You could also just have a little red/green circle with a phone icon in it that lives in the space at the very top of the new home screen, which takes you to the “privacy and security” screen if tapped.
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Somewhere on the payments flow. There should be plenty of space on some or all of the screens to have the tool clearly visible but not in the way.
99% of the time people may think it’s weird to see it there - but will hopefully learn and understand. And more importantly, that 1% of the time some is trying to move money because they’re on a call with ‘Monzo’ saying they need to move their money into a ‘safe account’, that tool saying “We’re not on a call with you” should be able to slow them down and make them think again.
AIUI the Monzo app is not at all monitoring your calls. Rather, Monzo are monitoring their own systems; they know when they’re calling you, and that’s when they will change the alert. Otherwise, by default, it shows “We’re not calling”. The detection and application is entirely at Monzo’s end, not the users. This would mean there are no privacy concerns.
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Ah, you misunderstood. I meant that if Monzo wanted to show the “we are not calling you” screen on the homepage, but only if you are in a phone call (and not to Monzo), they would need to monitor whether you are actively in a call on your phone or not.
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You’re right, I misunderstood. Mea culpa. I see where you’re coming from now and that’s fair.
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I echo the thought that giving it a home on the Payments screens would be useful.
I also think it could make quite a good Spotlight on the home tab, would make it a great feature I could quickly show a mate when talking about how great monzo it.
Even better would be the ability for any Spotlights (including this one if it comes to be) to become options for widgets on my phone’s home screen. but that’s going slightly off topic.
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