Banking apps seem to be a motif among things that don’t play well with privacy ROMs. My bank’s website does everything I could want out of it. I think I might be ignorant to something.
- What about banking apps is especially compelling?
- How often do banks put must-have features behind an app?
- And should I be concerned that banks might move away from offering services through browsers?
NFC payments
Works fine on lineage os
It’s a must for me. My phone is my primary day-to-day computer, so I need to be able to so everything from that. Unfortunately that is also why I’m not using graphene OS, because our government 2FA system doesn’t work in graphene OS (even with play services installed) so it’s impossible to do anything. I can’t check anything WRT banking, schools, taxes, daycare, doctors appointments, hospital record or change anything that requires the involvement of city hall, including checking digital mail from the municipality or government. It’s basically not possible to function in our society without it.
Out of curiosity, what do older citizens do? Like those in their 80s? Many here do not have a smart phone or mobile.
For banking and other official business, they have to go physically. If their bank has no physical department near them well then it sucks to be them. For digital mail you can apply for exemption and you will get physical letters.
You can order a digital code generator so you don’t need the app if you still want 2FA for digital handling. But I don’t want to have to carry that with me it would be a significant inconvenience for me.
Wow, that is pretty hostile to the elderly.
I mean, it’s been 15+ years since smartphones hit the market as a regular device, so those people where only in their mid/late 60’s when that transition happened. And there are solutions in place for both digital access without smartphone and physical only access. I’m not sure I see how that is hostile to elderly or people that can’t/won’t use a smartphone or insist on physical access. Obviously physical access is going to be a hassle, that’s why it’s not the default anymore.
Go to the bank in person
Wow, that is pretty hostile to the elderly. Imagine those who struggle to get about? Excluding them from society.
Depends on the country. I’m teaching in Thailand and here you can’t do any banking through a browser. You can only use the bank’s official app and you don’t even have a login/password for it, you have to go to the bank and activate the app in person as a foreigner (I think Thai citizens can do it online but foreigners have to do it in person). Nobody takes actual cards for the payment and you pay everywhere by scanning QR codes which has to be done through the app. If you buy a new phone you have to activate the app again at the bank’s office. It’s really annoying and the reason I probably can’t go with GrapheneOS or any other custom roms because the bank app is absolutely essential.
Is using cash impossible in daily life instead? It is hard to imagine for me that a smartphone may be outright required for daily life…
It’s possible, just very inconvenient. You end up getting massive amounts of change that you have to lug around to spend.
Ah, nice to know. I personally consider this a fair tradeoff for freedom and lack of financial surveillance.
Oh yes this QR code bullshit drives me nuts back home too
My bank’s app has way less functionality than the web version, but it’s used as a second factor to auth some operations, so I have to use both.
Never used them and I likely never will
I’m in the UK. I do not use them. I can login via website, and use text as 2FA. I do not need to use it out of the house but have that option if I want.
I pay via bank debit card.
I would be surprised if they app locked features. It would exclude elderly and probably be illegal.
Apparently US apps suck since our system is a dinosaur.
I just use the progressive web app on phone, works fine for my bank
They are important.
In need to use them on the go so it’s a must have.
The only time I’ve willingly used a banking app is when they lock out my VPN IP. In those cases the app still usually works for whatever reason. So far, I haven’t found any functionality missing from the webapp, but I’m also dealing with brick and mortar institutions.
I would be concerned as they will eventually probably move to a phone app first ecosystem, however it will probably take a while. Some people are still only using in person and phone banking (where you call them and punch in numbers).
Cashing checks and zelle are the big ones
Same here, mobile check deposit and Zelle are literally the only things I’ve ever needed a bank app for.
I used to never use Zelle for anything but too many friends/family want to use some sort of app for exchanging money & that’s usually what we settle on. And my old landlord wanted rent paid via Zelle so that was another thing that forced me to install a bank app for Zelle purposes.
Mobile check deposit is a requirement when dealing with a bank without any locations nearby. In practice I only need to use that once a year or so, checks are kind of rare nowadays unless you’re a business owner with clients/customers paying with checks.
Zelle is sketchy even when compared to other cash transfer apps. They do a lot of freezing people’s money. Don’t use them if you have any other option.
Do you have some examples?
I use Zelle almost exclusively for my business and I have never had an issue with it.
I’ve never used a mobile banking app. Been using smartphones since they became generally available. I don’t need any payment apps and I generally don’t do anything important on my cellphone except for communications.
2FA must be done through the damn app. It’s TOTP (six digit) but locked behind god knows what. I asked for alternatives and they looked me like I was a caveman.
When they give you that QR code for the 2FA app, print it out and file it away. That is the seed.
That would tempt me to dump a backup with adb and rifle through the app data to find the seed
I’ve never used a banking app and I do quite a bit of business with multiple banks.
I don’t use them and haven’t missed them. I see one of my local branches has ripped out its outdoor ATM’s though. Wonder if that’s related to moving stuff to apps.
