I have to say that, having observed discussions about features for over a year now, this is not a concern I have about Monzo at the moment. The design team seem very careful and deliberate about adding new features, and a clear and streamlined user experience seem to be a high priority. There are various features which on the face of it are trivial to implement. But @hugo is understandably hesitant to put in place an ‘obvious’ implementation, because there are implications for complexity and user experience. The Monzo approach seems to be to wait until they can work up a way of addressing these needs, without creating the type of app you’re talking about.
I also think it’s not helpful for us to tell Monzo how they ‘should’ be spending their development time. Ultimately, it is up to them how they choose to prioritise development time, what we should judge them on, and hold them to account for, is the output: the account, services, and apps on offer. It’s not a given that what we see in this sneak peak has come at the expense of developing essential features. And there are plenty of ideas that the Monzo team have previewed, or threatened to preview, which are still not part of the app. So I wouldn’t take this sneak peak as proof that lots of development time is being spent on this at the moment.
In summary: I don’t have a particular need for this feature, but it doesn’t bother me. How the Monzo team allocate their development time is not a concern to me, but if Monzo stop delivering and improving core features, that would concern me. And similarly, if the app starts to get crowded/junky, that would also bother me. I certainly think your concerns about junk functionality and wants/needs are valid, I just haven’t (yet) seen any indication that this is an issue with Monzo’s development. So far it is a carefully considered app.