Dedicated device for on line banking

Irish Steve

Enough is enough! I am not prepared to have a smartphone device that is dedicated to only running the shambles of an on line application in order to be able to use on line banking on a laptop! I was on line, logged into the 365 App, but due to the nightmare of trying to print from the phone app, I decided it would be easier to log into the laptop in order to print a copy of the most recent statement. That was a BIG mistake, as the attempt to log into the laptop failed due to not getting the stupidity of this second validation code. I eventually had to close EVERY application that's running on the phone in order to be able to see the notification pop up that was supposed to give me the code to enter on the laptop! That's NOT acceptable, I can have a number of applications open on the phone, and having to close everything in order to get the notification when I am already running the banking app is completely unacceptable! I have better things to do with my time than spend 15 minutes getting on line on my laptop, and disrupting everything else I am doing on my phone. When are your supposed designers going to get the message that their implementation of account security is a shambles, and unacceptable to real world users, for all sorts of reasons.

Bank of Ireland: Megan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058207012/dedicated-device-for-on-line-banking

Hi,

Thanks for getting in touch with us here.

I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the service. Changes were made to our online banking platforms as per European Payment Regulation(PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication). To log in on the website, you will need to approve your log in through the app. You can manually select the approval page by going to the log in screen of the app and select 'waiting for your approval'. This option is below the boxes where you enter 3 digits of your PIN. You should then have the facility to log in through the website.

I hope this help. We value your feedback and I will be sure to share it with the relevant team.

Thanks,

Megan

Irish Steve

Megan,

I am well aware of the procedure, the problem this morning was that I was already in the app. and didn't want to sign out to enable receipt of the approval swipe, as I was looking at specific information at the time, and wanted to be able to validate some information from the web application at the same time.

It would seem that there is a massive hole in the app, in that it doesn't recognise and action the fact that a validation has arrived, with the result that the ONLY way to get the validation is to sign out of the app, and then go back into it to be at the signon page. That's appalling programming, I use a number of applications on the phone that can manage to display the relevant pop up or validation process without any issues , regardless of what else is being done.

The issue this morning was that in order to see that the validation had arrived, I had to close every app that was running before it was visible, by which time, it had time expired. It's all very well for the developers, they are working with fast hardware and broadband, so their response in house is probably almost instant, the experience for the every day user is very different, and the result is that it can take several attempts to sign in, due to delays in either sending the notification, or the phone responding to it, espcially if the phone has timed out in the meantime, and has to be unlocked in order to get back to the relevant screen, and the timing of that action in many cases cannot be over ridden or turned off by the user.

If my focus at the time is on the BOI app, then it shoild be even easier to put up the relevant pop up, or similar, to enable the log in to the web page to be continued. To clarify that, the Irish Mygov site uses a similar validation system, but they have managed to work out how to recognise and process the receipt of the code in such a way that it's considerably more seamless, and nothing like the faff that's required in order to use the web banking app.

Even with the increasing size of mobile phone screens, it's still not easy to see or change things on the screen, due to the very restricted size of things like the keyboard, and I'd hate to be trying to use this app if my eyesight was not as good as it is, or with arthritic fingers that don't quite do what the user wants them to.

Allinall

I never have a problem logging in on my desktop when already logged in on the phone.

The page on the phone changes to the "swipe" authentication, and when the app opens on the desktop, it changes back to the page I was on.

Bank of Ireland: Declan

Hi there

Thanks for coming back to us and sorry to hear about the issues you are experiencing. We have just tested the app and website on our end so when you are logged into the app and then want to log in on the desktop version the notification should be appearing within a few seconds on your phone and then from here you swipe to approve. There is no requirement to be logged out of the app to be able to receive the notification to log into the laptop. I would advise you to complete the following steps to clear cache - >Manage Apps>BOI Mobile>Storage>Clear Data. Also I would advise to delete the app and reinstall. If none of these steps resolve the issue our dedicated team on 0818200362 are more than happy to help between Monday to Friday 9am-5pm

Thanks

Declan

Irish Steve

OK, done that, and I will respectfully suggest that someone needs to update the version that's being provided from the Google Play store, the version being provided there is last updated in May, and is clearly out of date, as the first thing that happens on launching it is that it goes off to an unknown location to download updates. That makes people like me very nervous, in that we've had it hammered in to us for years to not allow downloads from an unknown location, and the location being used for BOI updates is very much unknown, and the user has zero control over that process.

I can understand that in the event of an urgent patch, the version provided by Google might not be the most recent version, but a version uploaded in May is very much NOT even close to the current version, with the result that it has to be updated before anything happens.

I just hope that the difference I am seeing here is not as a result of a slightly older phone and Android version, The phone is a Galaxy S7, with Android 8.0.0, and that's unlikely to receive any more updates from Samsung, as they are not exactly friendly when it comes to rolling out updates for phones that are more than a couple of years old.

Brutal reality is that the cost of updating a phone along side all the other updates that are being forced on users of Microsoft and AMD based computer hardware is making it very expensive to keep up to date, the price of a phone now is astronomic in comparison to a laptop, and that's a serious issue in light of the mandatory requirement to have a mobile device to be able to use on line banking, or even make some payments using a debit card, if the message that was pushed out earlier today is any indication of future direction. I for one do not relish the prospect of having to spend several hundred euro every year in order to be able to access my bank account, as its becoming clear that the state would much prefer us not to be using cash going forward. and living without a working bank account is going to become increasingly difficult.

That's not a future I am comfortable with.