Monzo email with magic link not arriving

Cannot log into my monzo account after asking .e to enter email and a magic link will be sent to my email to log in no email has arrived been over 30 mins anyone else having this problem?

is it in your junk folder ? if it is it probably won’t work as it has a life span I believe - after 10 mins it doesnt work ( ??? ) so you would need to delete from your email and re apply for a magic link

Also make sure you haven’t made a typo or anything in your email address.

I’m not even getting any emails sent anymore I have pressed re send email over a dozen times I have also double and triple checked the email is exactly right this is very frustrating as I need to pay for something and I cant access my account

Can you get in on web.monzo.com?

Also, who do you use for your emails? EG.Hotmail Gmail


similar problem ??

A 10 minute life span is a bit unrealistic given the slower nature of email delivery vs SMS. I’ve only had to request a magic link from Monzo twice in the past 2 or so years, so I haven’t experienced an issue yet. But Bulb also use the same technology, which I request regularly. Sometimes the emails are instant, but other times (probably due to the methods iCloud use to protect users from spam and phishing) they can be delayed by up to hours.

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I got the 10 minute expiry from here - :man_shrugging:

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Sorry, I wasn’t doubting your claim; Essentially just highlighting the absurdity of the limit given that they’re using email rather than SMS. Neither are really a secure way for transmitting a link that directly logs you into an account though. SMS is faster, more reliable, and harder for malicious entities to intercept, although useless if you lose access to your phone, which i presume is when people are likely to request a login link.

Probably also worth noting these email are identified as junk by iCloud. You won’t get any kind of notification or push updates. You have to go to your junk folder inside iCloud and manually check for new mail before it will show up.

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It really isn’t. Almost all transactional emails (which is what this is, as opposed to marketing emails) are within 30 seconds IMO.

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Usually yes, especially when they are distributed between individuals, but networks are complicated systems and as such emails can be delayed for a multitude of reasons. SMS isn’t as prone to this.

However, given the volume and shared origin of magic link emails, they can and do appear as red flags to email service providers, which can and does result in their systems delaying them significantly. Marketing emails are typically done in batches to avoid this, which is why those are slow.

In your experience, you may receive them quickly, which is great and ideal, but it’s not a matter of opinion. it is the factual reality of the way email, in general, has always worked.

You are talking to someone who sends over ten million a month, I know how both transactional and bulk emails work :+1:.

SMS is not the holy grail. Cell networks have outages - sometimes for many many hours.

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I’m not proclaiming it to be the “holy grail”, just that given the time limit, and the issues surrounding email, that it may be a more reliable option. It certainly has been for other systems I’ve developed and used. I don’t think either are suitable solutions in this case though on the basis of security.

Oh I agree with that. I don’t like Magic Links in general, not just Monzo using them.

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They not perfect some email clients you would get them in spam so unless you look you won’t know and won’t get any notification. They is a time limited as well.
Maybe they could offer sms as a back up just in case you dint get the magic link.

I actually think allowing the user to set an optional password would be a better, more secure backup. Modern mobile operating systems allow the device to save and remember their app passwords anyway, so for me, magic links aren’t really solving a problem. But allowing the user to have a regular password as an option, would be the only real and secure way to prevent potential reliability issues with email and SMS delivery.

Frankly, email nor SMS are secure enough for full authentication and access in my view, but SMS can work for 2FA as the second factor.

Yes I agree with you

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2FA - Both interesting and worrying at the same time;

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