I thought it could be a good idea to identify the functions and features that you do and don’t like with your current bank’s mobile app. Mondo can then use these ideas and suggestions as they build their own.
Example, I don’t like: I can’t add new payees on either of my current banks’ apps. I think this is a security thing but they are behind TouchID so I’m not sure what is stopping them. They also require one reference per payee. I want the payee to be saved but the reference to be entered at each transaction where it is not re-occurring as I pay be paying them for different reasons each time.
I do like that I need to login for security and that I can use TouchID to do this.
I do quite like Lloyds Bank’s app. A lot of their UI is a bit weird and doesn’t conform to Apple’s standards, but functionally it is excellent - it helps me do everything I need to do without any silliness.
They also seem to consider the mobile app more trusted than their online banking. This manifests itself in that you have to answer a phone call when adding beneficiaries online, but they’re added immediately on the mobile app.
I do like: My bank monitors for SIM card swap. It dynamically increases security if it detects a card swap (for example maybe it adds extra checks on transfers or prevents new payees being set up for a while). Cool.
I absolutely hate the SIM card swap check. It gets you at the worst possible moments - often when you’re in a tight position of being out of battery, or something wrong with your cellular connection or whatever, just at the moment you can’t answer the phone or verify your number.
My bank’s app is the most non-native-seeming app I’ve ever used. Every few weeks there’s a new in-app “content update” to download which is horribly slow if you’re not in the UK, and threatens that horrible things will happen if you close the app before it’s finished.
It takes at least 20 seconds from opening the app to get into your account, and that’s if you have the (LocalAuthentication API ) Touch ID login enabled. There’s a half-second delay on every tap which I originally assumed was due to bad use of WKWebView but now I think it’s just because the whole thing sucks. The app in general breaks pretty much every standard iOS design pattern, style and gesture.
Good things? Well, you can use it as an access key for the bank’s IB service. But, if you reset/lose/sell your device without deactivating it as your key device you won’t be able to activate another device (or access your IB) until you go through a lengthy security procedure involving such endangered communication methods as phone and snail mail.
SIM swap check screws you over in foreign countries too.
Example: Japanese SIMs provided to foreigners can not use SMS or make calls and SIMs from home often outright fail on the strange local networks so you get stuck being unable to do anything. Worse when you needed the app because your card got blocked for making a magstripe transaction even after telling them.
As for what I don’t like about most banking apps, I do not like how they feel the need to ignore, reimplement or overly skin native system controls and are always lagging multiple years behind the current hardware capabilities (quick survey of the App Store showed around half didn’t support the iPhone 6 and 6 plus sizes, a handful didn’t even support the iPhone 5 size). Many of them use horrible custom fonts that are clearly not designed for interface or body text.
I don’t like how some implement iOS version whitelists (useless to developers or people with internal OS builds), I don’t like jailbreak checks (guess what, they fail on internal OS builds too and it’s an admission that your service trusts the client application too much), I don’t like the weird systems banks sometimes use to issue “updates” outside of Apple’s approval and I don’t like the painfully slow load times they all seem to have.
Sounds like you’re using HSBC iOS app jmap. 100% agree with all your statements. One of the worst apps I have installed on my phone, for what is arguably one of the most important aspects of lives today! Infact this app alone is probably responsible for my investment in Mondo so atleast that’s one thing positive to say about it!
@megakid you got it. HSBC generally is the reason for my interest in Mondo. Yesterday they declined a subscription charge for GitHub that’s been recurring without issue every month for the last 4 years!
So I switched payment method to my Mondo card, which worked first time
Love:
Natwest’s Emergency Cash (It’s the only reason I haven’t closed that bank account!)
Mondo’s spending analysis
Like Freebies:
-TSB’s 5% cashback on contactless
-TSBs 5% interest on balances up to 2000£
-Lloyd’s 4% interest on balances up to 5000£
-Lloyd’s Lifestyle benefits (6 free cinema tickets every year)
-Nationwide’s free travel insurance
Like:
Lloyd’s Money Manager (good idea, best so so far but really not that useful in practice)
Hate:
Nationwide’s ridiculous need for a card reader to get into the app & online
Agree with everything said so far about the HSBC app, its custom numeric keypad, constant “in-app” updates which always lag regardless of where you are, definitely things to avoid.
I found a bug in their iOS app a while ago which would force the app to crash. I tweeted them about it and someone phoned me back; I explained the issue to the customer representative on the phone and she was able to reproduce it.
It was then explained to me that unless I wrote up the issue on a form she was going to send me in the post which would be then sent to the “correct division” all she could do was report the problem as a “customer feature request”.
I’m with RBS - I like their app for basic things, like quickly moving money around between my own accounts, or paying people I’ve paid before. I like logging in with Touch ID, and the PIN before this wasn’t too complex for frequent use.
What I hate is the need for a card reader to add a new payee, the way that sometimes if I transfer money from my e-savings to my current account it doesn’t show up straight away making me freak out about where my money’s vanished to, and transactions taking days to show up (especially on weekends). There’s a special place in hell for when it says I’ve got no money available but doesn’t tell me how far over my limit I’ve gone. I’m then frantically transferring money across in increments to figure out what’s happened, and can’t see what’s caused the problem in the statement It’s also UGLY - I know this shouldn’t matter, but it really does. You can see that no imagination or innovation has gone into the design.
I’m so excited to use Mondo, I really think it’s going to help me keep control of my money and be a much less stressful experience, plus it’s great to use and clearly very well designed
I like that my bank actually has an app, then it goes down hill from there.
I hate:
The UI, it is awful.
I have to log in just to view branch and ATM locations.
The log in process is slow, and doesn’t make use of TouchID like other money apps do, eg PayPal and Revolut.
I hate that when I first registered to use it, I had to answer an automated phone call (on my mobile) and give the the
number the app was displaying in the app.
Pending transactions show up in a seperate tab
The headline balance doesn’t include pending transactions so I sometimes think I have more money than I do.
The three things I hate about all the banking apps I’ve used (NatWest, Halifax, Nationwide, First Direct) and banks in general are the high security, lack of customisability and the lack of real time.
The security makes me annoyed to use the app. I appreciate that I would rather have an annoying experience than have my money stolen, but banking apps don’t interest me they annoy me. The worst app for me in this respect is First Direct which I have had for about 2 years but can not even use properly because it needs to verify that I am on the same phone I registered with (which I’m not) and asks me to generate a code on the app or enter a code they once sent me. It has so many layers of annoyance that instead of ringing their helpful customer advisors and sounding like I don’t have a clue (which I have already done a bunch of times… what’s the point of an app if it always leads back to making phone calls), I just stopped using their app/bank and they are meant to be the best bank so I was pretty fed up with the market. The best app on security for me is Nationwide because I can enter with a simple passcode. You still need to use card readers to do anything important on nationwide, which is still annoying, but if all I want to do is check up on my balance (which I sometimes do a couple of times a day) it is much better than the other apps asking for code generation and layer upon layer of security.
On customisabiity, I would like to be able to include assets and liabilities which are not with the bank. I realise none of the banks offer this because they want to sell me everything themselves, but I would really appreciate if this was possible. Example of what I am talking about - if I have £250 cash in my house, a share certificate worth £750 and I owe a friend £500, why can’t I tell my bank app and then it can show me I have the £500 in my current account, plus £250 in cash, £750 in shares and a £500 debt (total £1000). This seems so simple but I cannot find any app that does this?
On real time, this is what really bores me about banking and generally about the internet. I have always been drawn to live markets (trading) because things are always moving and it’s interesting so I appreciate I am not a typical bank customer, but I don’t understand why money needs to be at a fixed point in time and for a fixed amount, and in between that time it is just static data, it’s so boring for me - why can’t a bank account be in motion rather than still?. Example: Why do people get paid £2000 once a month and feel anxious in between when they could get paid 5p per minute (or £3/hr, £72/day, £504/wk) and all have their bills going out at 3p per minute or whatever it translates to? Why is digital money a solid object when it could be liquid? I know monese or one of your other competitors is doing a drip savings account with money coming out each day (but what about the other 23 hours 59mins where nothing is going on?). Why can’t I have a bank app where all my planned income and expenses are constantly moving and it is interesting to use?
Does mondo have any plans to incorporate any “drip” features into the app?
I apologise if any of this is already in your app. I am still waiting for your android app to get on board so I have yet to be enlightened.
Well, maybe not everyone is swapping SIMs frequently. So if it is a feature, let people opt out of the fraud check. Then also for people that do this, inform them of the risks and change the liability for SIM swap abuse by transferring it from Mondo to the consumer.
Currently HSBC and First Direct enabled Touch ID feature. Seems much better now. Although still take time to load. And most banking apps do not follow iOS app style guideline (I think).
Actually all of those apps are not bad. But because they are not written by “hard core” “modern” “iOS/Apple style”, which makes them crap. That’s why Mondo app stands out.
Sorry, but follow Apple style guidelines, not Android, is much better.
[quote=“ruben, post:20, topic:1872”]
I mean, their customer support is amazing[/quote]
Highly unlikely we’re talking about the same bank here
The in-app updates are probably a sign that their app uses some non-native platform like Ionic (but not actually Ionic) that allows you to deploy updates directly to the app, circumventing the App Store. And look what a great UX it results in!
) Touch ID login enabled. There’s a half-second delay on every tap which I originally assumed was due to bad use of WKWebView but now I think it’s just because the whole thing sucks. The app in general breaks pretty much every standard iOS design pattern, style and gesture.
It’s also UGLY - I know this shouldn’t matter, but it really does. You can see that no imagination or innovation has gone into the design.
