8 ms·

I do not get what's special about banking apps as opposed to online banking. I've been doing online banking in the browser on a PC since before apps and I'm sti

• 1980phipsi 8mo ago
  You can deposit checks via the app pretty easily.
  • fweimer 8mo ago
    The last time I've used a check was close to thirty years ago. I assume ahartmetz's experience is similar. Many countries have functioning giro systems. The U.S. is just an outlier.
    • connicpu 8mo ago
      I've never written a check, but I have had to deposit occasional checks. In the last 6 years the only checks I've received were first paychecks at a new job (before direct deposit was set up) and my covid stimulus checks.
  • ahartmetz 8mo ago
    I'm in Europe where the situation is different: checks haven't been used in appreciable numbers for 30 years or so. It's all online or paper transfer orders. If you get a pre-filled paper transfer order, you can type (or scan and OCR I suppose) the same data into the online form.
    • bluedino 8mo ago
      Your grandma doesn't give you a $10 check for your birthday in Europe? What about manufacturer rebates?
      • ahartmetz 8mo ago
        Cash is still fairly common, and manufacturer rebates are basically not a thing. If they were, you'd send them an account number (IBAN = bank ID + account number at bank) to transfer the money to.
        • ghaff 8mo ago
          In fairness, manufacturer rebates have pretty much (mercifully) disappeared in the US as well as they were basically a scheme to mentally make you account for a lower price you wouldn't end up being rebated for various reasons.
      • ninalanyon 8mo ago
        To receive money from someone you can just give them your bank account number or if you both have Vipps or similar just your mobile telephone number. Granny can always give you cash or just send it directly to you account in the same way.
      • fabian2k 8mo ago
        Europe is a big place, but my understanding is that the US is the outlier here and Europe is relatively similar in this regard. The only time I really saw checks used was when I was a child ~30-35 years ago and my parents used them. I did once cash a check from an elderly relative, but that was very unusual and only happened once. I didn't even know it was still possible to do that, my reaction was more like if someone had handed me a stack of punch cards to run on my computer. There hasn't been anything an average person used checks for in the last decades in Germany. Except a few elderly people, nobody uses checks and there are no rebates via checks at all.
        • eloisant 8mo ago
          I live in France and I still have to write a check here and there. Very minor, but still present. Receiving a check however is even rarer.
      • graemep 8mo ago
  • monocularvision 8mo ago
    Yep, check deposit was the last reason I might regularly visit a bank (although even before the iPhone, I would use the ATM for that)
  • contracertainty 8mo ago
    What's a check? As the saying goes, 'I'm too European for this'. On a more serious note, the last time I saw a cheque in the UK was my grandfather balancing his cheque book in the mid 80s. It really has been that long since they were in general use in the UK, at least. Just like with the prevalance of Apple/iPhones, the US banking system is global outlier. Things you can't do with my banking app you can do with the web site: - Extract your transactions to excel/csv - Use OpenBanking - See all my accounts on screen at once - Sharedealing - International transfers But people are right, banks trust the mobile app more, and realy on it as an MFA device, so even if you use the website you still need the app.
    • retired 8mo ago
      Europeans have checks as well, so that doesn’t really makes sense.
• dylan604 8mo ago
  Sounds like someone forgetting that for a large number of people, their mobile device is their only computer.
  • dehrmann 8mo ago
    I know this is true, but for serious tasks, I need the screen real estate. I'm amazed at what some people can do from a phone, but also wonder if they're missing things, of if it's actually inefficient.
    • bjtitus 8mo ago
      I wouldn't call checking a bank balance and initiating transfers "serious tasks". Maybe important but they aren't complex.
    • neutronicus 8mo ago
      Or if they go to the public library when those tasks come up.
    • danielbln 8mo ago
      I'm going to bet that you are a millennial or older? We need our big screens for $IMPORTANT work (buying big things, money stuff, etc.). GenZ tends to be less bothered by it and just does it all on the tiny screen in their pocket. It's time to schedule a colonoscopy.
      • twelve40 8mo ago
        that's kind of an ad hominem, but also beside the point: most bank apps (and websites) are actually absolute garbage, especially the top ones, just one example: the Citi app (on different phones) for a very long time refused to allow me to make a payment or change my password, so i had no choice but to use desktop. Somehow still, top banks' ugly websites seem to allow more functionality/fewer bugs than their mobile apps, which are very often just dumbed-down webviews or simplifications of their websites.
• ericmay 8mo ago
  How do you scan a check on your PC? Generally yes the apps tend to be easier to use for most things, especially with a high-speed internet connection. Customers prefer them, banks build them since customers prefer them.
  • bluedino 8mo ago
    Visioneer paperport! I wonder if you can use a webcam?
  • freedomben 8mo ago
    My PC has had a scanner connected to it for over 20 years, and in the mid 00s I was scanning and depositing checks through my bank's website (USAA). Even with modern cameras and fancy smarphone software, the results you get from a PC scan are still much better than taking a picture with your phone. If you don't have a scanner, nearly all laptops have a webcam built in, and many people have one for their desktop as well. On top of all that, there's no reason you can't use your smartphone camera to upload an image into a website through the mobile browser. I've done it many times for things. Just this morning I "scanned" a receipt into Ramp by taking a picture with my smartphone in the mobile browser. You can't invade the user's privacy nearly as well in a browser (which is great for analytics/marketing), so there's a lot of incentive to the app creator to force a mobile app. But I think we should be honest that it's not for the user, it's for the company.
    • bob1029 8mo ago
      > the results you get from a PC scan are still much better than taking a picture with your phone. The quality of the check images is not as big of a deal as you might think. No one is actually inspecting these unless the amount of deposit is near a limit or the account is flagged for suspicious activity. You definitely do not want to throw away the physical copy until the bank confirms the deposit.
      • freedomben 8mo ago
        Yes I totally agree. Mainly I threw that in there to pre-empt any "quality" argument that someone might try to use for why native mobile app is needed.
• dartharva 8mo ago
  Mobile payments (at least in places where they are executed correctly) are certainly a huge improvement over physically exchanging cash and change. I haven't needed to take out my wallet for years.
  • ahartmetz 8mo ago
    I don't see what difference it makes. If you use cash, you draw it at the ATM.
• jader201 8mo ago
  I mean, this argument isn’t really specific to banking apps. This could apply to any native vs. web app, in general. Native apps can provide a bit more streamlined UX (e.g. Face ID), while also being able to provide more robust features (mobile deposit). The downsides are arguably higher development costs / OS compatibility, and having to install a separate app.
• forinti 8mo ago
  One bank I work with seems to have all but given up on online banking and I just have to use their app because online banking will no longer work on Linux (although they don't openly admit it). I think Android and iOS are safer platforms than PCs and that's why banks want you to use your phone.
  • empyrrhicist 8mo ago
    > online banking will no longer work on Linux How? Across multiple browsers? > I think Android and iOS are safer platforms than PCs and that's why banks want you to use your phone. This statement fills me with revulsion and rage lol. The only real "safety" involved here is the removal of user agency. I have a lot more trust in a machine I can actually control, secure, and monitor than the black box walled-garden of phoneland.
    • zetanor 8mo ago
      Your bank's insurer trusts Google's security more than yours, and they must surely (and rightfully) believe that while Google would spy on you, they wouldn't steal your bank account.
      • empyrrhicist 8mo ago
        That's a much more precise and accurate way to describe the situation.
        • deleted 8mo ago
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• wolttam 8mo ago
  I can do all the same things with my bank with a browser that I can via the app. It seems like a natural evolution of the technology and adoption rates to me. There was rudimentary online banking in the 2000s, then we saw banks shift to fully online presences in the 2010s. Maybe it wasn’t “the iphone” but just the fact that by the 2010s, everybody had a device in their pocket.
• add-sub-mul-div 8mo ago
  Right, I'm going out of my way to avoid inviting Google/Apple and their respective app store surveillance ecosystems into my transactions. I don't even have banking apps installed. I don't understand why so many people are prostrating themselves to this future for minor convenience.
• SpaceManNabs 8mo ago
  Doing it on the go via the app is much easier than using the web app through the main OS browser just because the UI is optimized. not a problem with using the web app approach, just that there isnt as much investment in it due to zeitgeist i guess. Also since you are already using 2FA, you are already on the phone so might as well do basic operations there. I can also look at transactions in my bed before going to bed so that is nice. If I need to look at a support ticket or look at transactions more deeply, i still use the desktop approach.
  • freedomben 8mo ago
    I don't think many people would argue that there shouldn't be a mobile app, just that there should also be a website/webapp way to do it as well if you don't want to install their native app.
• 1123581321 8mo ago
  Yes, the apps perform better/faster and generally have more UI thought put into them. Overall, lower friction. Often when people need to use their banking app, they're in a hurry, maybe stressed (e.g. in line at a grocery store) so everything the bank can do quickly and with visual assurance helps. On the premium end of banking, where users generally aren't stressed about money, offering an app is more about catering to however the user prefers to interact.
  • ahartmetz 8mo ago
    A small screen and shitty keyboard are friction to me shrug
    • 1123581321 8mo ago
      You must know most people only have their phones when they are running errands, at work, etc.
      • autoexec 8mo ago
        Most people only have phones period. Desktop computers are not common.
    • DonsDiscountGas 8mo ago
      I'm the same way but we're both posting on hacker news. Many people prefer phones
    • dangus 8mo ago
      Something I have on me at all times Versus Drive to the bank, wait in line, talk to someone who misunderstands me, fill out a deposit/withdrawal slip, and also if it’s not 9AM - 5PM I just can’t do this at all.
• deleted 8mo ago
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• conductr 8mo ago
  My main reason to go to bank after online was to deal with physical things. Mainly checks and specifically depositing them. Now, I can usually do that with my phone because of the camera. Even if I had a webcam before, I don’t recall the functionality being there. They had check scanners but usually for businesses and my check volume is really low so never made sense to get one (usually came with a monthly fee to have one iirc) Even now, the mobile deposit limit seems sufficiently low that I still go to the bank with more frequency than I’d like. Luckily, the ATM at the bank has a check scanner now that doesn’t have a limit so that’s usually easier and faster. It’s the daily $5000 limit I hit the most, a single check and put me over it and require a trip to bank. I think the monthly limit is $30000 and that doesn’t get in my way often. I think $5000 is too low of a daily limit. It’s common enough that I have to make a $5k+ settlement with friends/family that usually always has to be done by check. (For curious, This is usually travel that I pay for and we settle up later.) Less common, but sometimes I need to get a bank check (guaranteed funds) or a money order. Way less frequent is need to get/give cash funds. Usually can use ATM for this unless it’s a larger withdrawal or if I need some particular denomination. This whole paragraph accounts for about 1-4 annual trips in any given year though.
• snarf21 8mo ago
  Mostly easier in the sense that it is always in your hand already, not at home on the charger on your desk.
• everdrive 8mo ago
  You just need to understand how things are now. Here are few modern smartphone conventions that render banking on an old-fashioned PC totally obsolete: - Remembering that you need to do banking, but waiting to do it until you're at home in front of your computer. This is impossible now, and if I don't follow the impulse the moment it occurs, the impulse will forever escape into the ether. - Even the mere mention of needing to observe a URL is often far too scary. Typing one in, or using a browser bookmark is of course, impossible. - Using a keyboard and mouse. It's just too onerous to use tools that are efficient and accurate. Modern users would much rather try to build a mental map of the curvature of their thumb, so that when they touch their touchscreen and obscure the button they're hitting, they they can reference that 3D mental map to guess at what portion of the screen they've actually pressed. Getting this wrong 30% of the time does not detract from the allure of touch screens. - Using a normal-sized screen that allows you to actually see a lot of data at once, or even use multiple tabs. Again, this is really unthinkable. Of course it be be completely unacceptable to need to wait to do your banking until you're in front of a computer. It's 2026, and I cannot be bothered to remember to do a task later. But, in needing to always follow every impulse immediately, it doesn't matter that my phone screen only displays a small amount of information at once, or that tabbed browsing is impossible in a banking app. Those inconveniences are acceptable, or even welcome!
  • ido 8mo ago
    I literally can't find where the bookmarks even are on Edge (I didn't care enough to search online).
    • ahartmetz 8mo ago
      Autocompletion is my bookmarks collection for frequently visited websites.
• simonw 8mo ago
  Official banking apps are harder to phish than websites. They also tend to keep you signed in for longer, especially once you enable something like FaceID.
  • dylan604 8mo ago
    Obviously, I've never used every. single. banking app, yet the ones I've used have signed me out of the app just as the web page does. Using FaceID makes it less noticeable, but it is signing me in each time I use it unless I've returned to it within the active session. Otherwise, it's logged out as expected.
• Obscurity4340 8mo ago
  Honestly, its overkill. When my MaBook went kaput, i had to start doing everything on my iPhone. Had to get a good mobile documents office suite (Collabora is great ), do all my banking with both mobile apps or desktop browser apps, etc. Its been dfine, i doubt i would use a full size computer for that anymore.
• nonameiguess 8mo ago
  I'm always a bit confused in these discussions what is special about banking software of any kind at all. My bank has an app, but other than checking a balance every now and again, the only reason I use it is because it's also my insurance provider and I make claims through it. For actual banking, I don't really do any, through the website or the app. My pay is direct deposit. My purchases are on credit with payment details generally stored with the vendor; otherwise, I have cards or use the numbers. Monthly balance payoff is autopay. I had to go into the website once to set all that up however many years ago I don't remember, but people talk in these threads like they're in their banking apps directly moving money around all the time, actually making payments with the app. Why?
  • acatnamedjoe 8mo ago
    I have a personal current account, a shared current account with my wife, and several savings accounts. It is frequently necessary to move money between these accounts. Also, here in the UK we don't really use Venmo or anything like that, so normally transferring cash to and from friends and family happens by bank transfer as well.
    • deleted 8mo ago
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• mrweasel 8mo ago
  My bank decided that the online banking website needed to be more like the app, so now they are both terrible. Basically the entire site is white space on the computer, because everything is centred and dumb down. Input fields for numbers are invisible, they are just a label saying "Kr" and you're suppose to click it and the numerical keyboard on the phone pops up, except it obviously doesn't on the computer. Paying billed is easier on the phone in the sense that bills in Denmark have a three part number, e.g. +71 1234567890 1234678 where the first is a type number, second is the receiver and the last is a customer number with the receiver. The phone allows to just use the camera to scan the number. Transferring money is terrible on both platforms, because it's designed to be doable on the phone, meaning having three or four screen, but it gives you no overview. There's plenty of space on a computer for a proper overview giving you the feeling of safety, but it's not used. Same for account overview. Designed to the phone, but doesn't adapt to the bigger screen and provide you with more details, so you need to click every single expense to see what is is exactly.
  • ahartmetz 8mo ago
    I've had the same thing happen. Huge buttons, a lot of whitespace, little functionality in the default web version. To deal with stocks and such, the old version is still available somewhere.
• eloisant 8mo ago
  No, the article is wrong about the iPhone. It's the Internet that killed bank tellers.
  • ghaff 8mo ago
    And you still need bank branches every now and then for various things. Still don't understand how various expansive bank branches are profitable.
  • socalgal2 8mo ago
    It's also not the iPhone given Europe is 60-70% Android
    • retired 8mo ago
      Android market share in Europe is dropping, hasn’t been 70% in a while and it’s closing in on 60%.
  • lotsofpulp 8mo ago
    Best way to get clicks without publishing something of substance is to publish something wrong. If the article was titled "The internet killed bank teller jobs", then people would think "duh" and no one would click on it.
  • raisedbyninjas 8mo ago
    Yeah cash and checks haven't been replaced by mobile banking or mobile payments. Credit and debit card use took over the payment market with digital wallet exploding in the last few years. Electronic transfers took over paying bills with paper checks. None of those need a smartphone or other personal computing.
• kjkjadksj 8mo ago
  My bank doesn’t allow for zelle access on PC. Otherwise I would never mobile bank.
• jama211 8mo ago
  Yes? Why would I go over to my computer and boot it up and sit down and type in a website when I could just pull my phone out tap tap done?
• lizknope 8mo ago
  Yeah, I have been doing online banking since around 1998. I have refused to install the bank app on my phone because I see no point in it and just downsides in case I get mugged (bad experience in my teenage years) The 1 check I get a year takes about a minute to deposit at the ATM on my way to work.
• cheema33 8mo ago
  > I do not get what's special about banking apps as opposed to online banking. I use both. In the beginning I used to prefer the web version. I can use my large monitor to see more data and use a full keyboard and mouse. But I have started to use the mobile version more. For Wells Fargo at least, the mobile version is faster to log into because of face ID support. The website requires a lot more clicks and keystrokes. Also, the mobile app makes it easy and possible to deposit checks if and when I get them.
• jldugger 8mo ago
  Ever deposit a check via PC browser?
  • jdauriemma 8mo ago
    +1, this is my use case as well
  • aidenn0 8mo ago
    Not OP, but I have.
• DonsDiscountGas 8mo ago
  I've had the same thought. The only major difference that I can think of is the built-in camera making check deposits easier. It may also be that people were just generally using computers more and using the internet more over this same time period, although a lot is that because of smartphones
• retired 8mo ago
  An app on your phone can be more secure as you are using the device itself as a hardware token.
• dmazzoni 8mo ago
  I think mobile deposit by scanning a check with your smartphone camera is one piece of it? I've never seen a bank offer that feature via their website.
  • aidenn0 8mo ago
    USAA used to offer that (scanning via a java applet), but sunsetted it in favor of using the app.
• dfxm12 8mo ago
  I used to do banking on my (touch tone) phone before I did online banking. I still do online banking on my PC because my budget spreadsheet is on my PC, right next to my browser window. Personally, I don't think this is about banking apps. I'm kinda surprised an article talking about ATMs and teller jobs barely mentions cash, checks & cards and doesn't mention paypal or venmo at all. I used ATMs less when it became less of a necessity to carry cash. You don't use cash to buy things online. Even in person, outside of brick & mortars, paypal/venmo became in vogue at some point in the past. Those are banking apps in their own way.
• nunez 8mo ago
  Yes...because banks have made it much more difficult to do online banking through a web browser as a forcing function to route people to their apps. I actually switched to a credit union last year from Chase partly for this reason. Chase used to have m.chase.com, which was PERFECT for most of the banking I did while being extremely fast, even back in the 2G days. They Web 2.0'ed it in 2017 and deprecated m.chase.com in 2018 or so. The provider that maintains my bank's online banking platform made it fast and lightweight, much like m.chase.com of yesteryear, while also adding more modern authentication security (2FA vs SMS).
• joshuakcockrell 8mo ago
  Cofounder at Envelope here. Yes, a well polished banking app is much easier to use for many tasks - Push notifications within seconds of swiping your card - Frictionless to check your balance/budget/cards with bio auth - Mobile check deposit (as others here have stated) - Instantly locking/unlocking your cards - Budgeting built-in If, to you, "doing online banking" means "sitting down at my computer and scrolling through the PDF statements on Chase's website" (I don't blame you, I've been there), then yes, doing that on a desktop is much easier. I'd encourage you to take a look at how far banking apps have come recently.
• pepperoni_pizza 8mo ago
  I do online banking on my phone. There's two reasons for it: 1) Because of regulations, I need to use my phone to log in into internet banking and to confirm every transaction (including online card payments) anyway. If I already have to find a phone, I might just use it all the way. 2) Invoices have QR codes on them nowadays, that you can scan with your phone and it will prefill all the account numbers, amounts, etc. That's easier than copy-pasting or rewriting it. Now this is all actually terrible, because to live in a society, you need a bank account, and to have a bank account, you need Google or Apple-controlled smartphone. (there are some legacy banks that allow you to use SMS for second factor, but it's less and less common)
• duskdozer 8mo ago
  Most of the difference is intentional enshittification of the non-app UX because it pushes users onto a platform where they have less control over their device and thus less ability to avoid malware like ads and tracking.
• giancarlostoro 8mo ago
  How do you deposit a check on a PC? I know on a computer you can just take photos of the front and back, and deposit it.
• throwawayffffas 8mo ago
  For inexplicable reasons I have found that some operations are only possible through the app. Ok they are not inexplicable, there is the illusion that the App is more secure and thus some high impact stuff is only possible through the app. At least in my bank.
  • NetMageSCW 8mo ago
    It is not an illusion, unless you are on Android