Itāll be an Xcode emulator, probably. @JonH can confirm. This might also need its own Thread āMonzo on Macā @AlanDoe.
Back to the spending block, I like the idea of this, seems like a good move.
I think this is where itās going to get meaty. Blocking a whole spending category might not work well for obvious reasons, but as weāve seen the merchant data can be patchy so I can see this being set and still allowing spend in some edge cases.
It is an excellent start though.
Itās a good question, and youāre right, this is an example of something we donāt let you block 
Iām not sure exactly what magic is involved. I followed a guide one of our iOS engineers wrote 
On the merchant data point, yes, itās important, and something we know requires ongoing maintenance. But two extra points to consider:
setting a spending block hopefully also acts as a deterrent from trying to spend 
(quite different from something like cashback!)
staff testing suggested some common merchant themes, where we have higher confidence in the data
So go out and test with the merchants you actually want to block, and let us know how you get on!
The block is best effort. Thereās some more guidance in the onboarding flow. Let us know if itās clear enough there
So if I wanted to prevent myself from letās say, Xbox but still want to spend with the card on other Microsoft services would this be an issue or would this still work?
As others said sometimes a merchant name appears differently in Monzo, so wither Xbox or Microsoft.
I dont work for Monzo so canāt say but from what @JonH put above it looks to be ābest effortā so on that Iād imagine they would try to, but it might not always work.
Costa is a better example. Since a number are Franchisees sometimes it picks up them as a different entity.
But itās a start and a good one, I think
Another issue Iāve discovered, I go to Heron Foods and when I spend money via Google Wallet I get a transaction saying Heronfoods Cotteridge for example (FYI I donāt live there).
Or sometimes at another heron foods near my home itāll just say Heronfoods on the Monzo app.
So Iād say this needs work, and may not be 100% reliable which is why I havenāt enabled it at this time.
It is under labs so is pretty much in beta right now, but when itās more reliable I see some awesome uses for it.
Iām going to test it later on a test transaction later.
It almost certainly isnāt, itās most likely an emulator.
Iāll attempt it at a store site thatās not essential then, so idk JD for example since thatās a clothing shop.
I think public transport like Transport for London, or Train line in this case may still work at the moment as seen here.
I can confirm that transport as of now cannot be blocked.
Eating out however at Costa can be blocked.
Mmmhh, I just tried on a virtual card a number of different transactions. Some the option appears, some it doesnāt. I canāt block Asda or Tesco, but could block a restaurant and bar.
Seems a bit hit and miss
The option only appears for merchants that arenāt considered essential.
Supermarkets, HMRC, DVLA, utilities etc, are all out of scope.
That makes more sense! Sorry if I missed that.
As others mentioned I believe anything essential cannot be blocked at the moment.
So Tesco, Asda, Aldi are classed as essentials and for transport like TFL, National Express West Midlands etc all count as transport.
Its for more uses that arenāt essential like a trip to McDonaldās.
Can confirm, just looked on the latest beta build.
Developer made a typo, easy fix. 
I would argue the point of how essential a MacDonalds is 
Some days it feels most essential
Nothing wrong having a maccies in the morning.
Based on some of your feedback here, we can already see the need for more detail in our help article on how this works
Thanks so much for everything you have shared so far! 
Firstly, the bug with the feed item should hopefully be fixed now! 
Let us know if you still have problems!
Also, there are some exclusions weāve built in for example:
The tool is designed to help with general budgeting and impulse spending so we hope the exclusions feel right to anyone who uses it This list isnāt exhaustive and weāre learning what might work and what doesnāt whilst this feature is in Labs, with your feedback 
Weāll update our help article to include this 
