If a tree falls in a forest…
My phone’s on its last legs and as a thought experiment I’ve been considering the ramifications of scaling back; Nokia 3310 style, classic ringtone, original snake, off the grid baby…
In other words: what would being ‘full Monzo’, without the monzo app, look like…?
Without better Monzo Web access I imagine it would be a struggle! 
Yeah. This.
Would using BlueStacks work?
Interesting… Hadn’t heard of that but could be a workaround.
If one was forced to go Monzo app-less what would be the achilles heel? Day to day card spending would be fine & presuming you’d memorised your account number you could set up DDs, receive transfers etc.
You couldn’t make payments to friends, or approve Internet purchases requiring verification. To me they seem the obvious red lines.
I think you could have it fallback to SMS for the latter?
I definitely get the appeal but you’re right, being Full Monzo would be difficult.
Maybe get the scaled back phone for day to day/on the go but keep your old model at home, on silent and connected to WiFi so you can log into Monzo as needed there?
Why would you want to go “off the grid baby”?
If you mean off social networks, then just close your Facebook account etc.
Not using a smartphone would mean the loss of instant language translation, maps, real–time travel information, e–ticketing, camera, localised weather and (for me, at least) fitness tracking.
I’d class banking access up there with those, and you’d certainly lose notifications when the service is down, ability to lock your card quickly, asynchronous customer service, location–based security, phone wallet (with all the extra security that brings).
Still, I suppose you could go the whole way and get a chequebook.
No to SMS as it’s a weakness.
Look at recent articles regarding SIM jacking.
Because some people don’t need any of these features as other options exist for all of them, ya know, from a time before smartphones.
Keeping Monzo would be tricky for sure, I’d suggest closing your Monzo and moving to another account with more traditional services in the meantime, until Monzo release a better ‘web’ experience I can see it being just a step too far.
That doesn’t mean you can’t. On the payment page there is an option to use SMS instead of approving in the app - therefore, it is possible.
SIM jacking. OK. Yes, it’s a thing, but the chances are remote.
Alternatively, get the basic phone, only insert and remove SIM when you need it, keep it wrapped in tin foil at all other times?
The level of paranoia really startles me sometimes.
To get back to the original question, it seems like it would be just possible but very very limited and potentially dangerous if your account was compromised.
My take on this is that Monzo is not for you. It’s designed from the ground up to be a bank in your phone. The web offering is designed to be an emergency back stop in cases of lost or broken phones and I don’t think monzo ever intend to make it anything but.
As the original poster is both an investor and been a member of the community for over two years, I think they are aware of what Monzo is. As it says in the first post, it is a thought experiment 
Yeah, I read that.
Presumably they were looking for other thoughts, and some people are just pointing out the obvious?
Yes it does, I use this to do the basic things that the iOS app just does not do ie. update notes on certain transactions etc.
I was thinking about getting a “dumb” phone next time instead of a smartphone but I think I’d struggle with Monzo and map applications too much. Instead I decided to turn notifications off pretty much every app except Monzo and Whatsapp (but I’ve muted almost everyone except my wife and parents), and I deleted all the apps I wasted time on.
I have to say it’s a much more pleasant experience and I haven’t gone back to old habbits yet. I think I’ve been logging in to this forum more than I used to on my phone though!
Keep your current “smart” phone in a drawer at home.
Buy a cheap dumb phone to carry with you that just does calls and text for a tenner.
Done.
Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t pose the question because I can’t see how to survive without Facebook. I don’t use that, nor any other network except for a few close friends on Instagram. I fully see the appeal of disconnecting from what I perceive to be “the grid”.
But as someone who views the invention of the mobile phone (and by extension the smartphone) as humanity’s greatest achievement, I can’t understand locking myself from the democratisation of knowledge that brings.
Yes I could go and live in a cottage on Uist with no electricity and an outside toilet, and drive a 2CV because “people did that once” but would I still want to lock myself away from genuine advancement in human development.
Thanks for the replies everyone.
As I said just a thought experiment: the end game being more around what Monzo might do to cover off any main weaknesses in Monzo Web rather than a genuine yearning for my 3310 days.
Happy to say that Monzo ‘is for me’ and I’m a proud investor and user. 
An advancement that has already been proven to have potentially negative effects on people, although that’s mostly social media.
I like tech, I’m a geek, and smartphones are wonderful. But they are not, and should not, be viewed as the only solution.
And I’m sorry but this is far from humanity’s greatest achievement, if anything it’s making things worse…
ANYWAY, way off-topic now!!