> banking/insurance/whatever apps
I know banking apps are the typical example, but I've always wondered why. I use my bank's app maybe once or twice a year when I need to Zelle someone, which I only need to do when they don't have Venmo. (Unless we consider Venmo a banking app.)
I only have one bank's app installed, the rest of my banks I only interact with over their website, on desktop.
As for insurance, I've never had an insurance company's app installed.
Am I just an outlier here? Honestly, if I switched to a non standard OS, I'd be more annoyed about losing, say, Google Maps, Uber/Lyft, or various chat apps. Banking and insurance just don't come to mind at all as something I need my phone for.
My bank sends me an alert when my card is used to make a transaction - handy for spotting fraud.
I get an alert when a payment comes it - handy for knowing if a client has paid.
I can quickly check my balance - handy for knowing if I can afford another round of drinks.
I can repay a friend in two taps - handy if they've paid for dinner.
Is anything essential? No. Is it something people use multiple times per day? Yes!
Could all of these be handled through openbanking?
Yes
I can get alerts in email or messages, no need dedicated app for that, I can track there also my balance, so only useful thing app provides are easy wire transfers from phone, which I never do, if I wanna transfer money is much more convenient work big display, proper keyboard and mouse than from phone.
You actually check your email regularly? How much effort does it really take to transfer a balance on a phone?
For Bank Of America it’s:
1. Click on “pay & transfer”
2. Click on “transfer”
3. Click on “From” and choose account
4. click on “to” and choose account
Then type in the amount and and click on the date?
Is it really that much easier on a computer?
That's great for you but unfortunately the overwhelming majority of people do indeed regularly use these features.
We've cultivated a tech culture that can't stand the slightest inconvenience. People will give up nearly everything if it means avoiding the least bit of effort.
We are so boned
So yes if it weren’t for people wanting convenience the “Year of Linux on the Desktop” would have happened 25 years ago.
What do you suggest? Everyone carry around their desktop computers and our CRT monitors like we did when we wanted to play Quake with friends?
"if I wanna transfer money is much more convenient work big display, proper keyboard and mouse than from phone"
You realize how ridiculous this sounds, right?
It reads like he made typos/autocorrect mistakes on his mobile phone!
Which is a pretty funny illustration of the gist of what he was saying… it’s easier to make mistakes on phones.
"I'm am just an outlier here?"
No. The "banking app doesn't work" argument against non-corporate mobile OS, raised incessantly is HN comments, is bogus
I want a "phone", i.e., small form factor computer, that can run something like NetBSD, or Linux. But I have no intention of using it for commercial transactions. Mobile banking is not why I want to run a non-corporate OS
I want to use it for recreation, research and experimentation
NB. I have more than one "phone". The choice is not corporate mobile OS versus non-corporate mobile OS, i.e., "either-or". I can use both, each for specific purposes
> I want a "phone", i.e., small form factor computer, that can run something like NetBSD, or Linux. But I have no intention of using it for commercial transactions. Mobile banking is not why I want to run a non-corporate OS
> I want to use it for recreation, research and experimentation
I am a firm believer that phones are personal computers and should have all the end user freedom we have come to expect from personal computers. I am totally behind what your saying. (The amount of irrational anger that wells up in me when I hear someone make the argument that phones are somehow not general purpose personal computers and shouldn't provider their owners software freedom would astound you.)
Personally, I opt out of services that require the use of phone "apps" and any potential attestation they provide. Unfortunately, I just offload those needs onto my wife and her iPhone.
Want to go to a concert in a TicketMaster venue? You have to have a phone. Pay to park in some places requires a phone. Mobile ordering for some restaurants requires a phone.
I don't think it should be this way, but it is. I think we need consumer regulation to insure software freedom on phones and curtail awful user hostile "features" like remote attestation.
Until that happens (if it ever does) there is a realpolitik with needing corporate phones for some activities that can't be denied.
So the world should cared to your needs when literally almost every adult has a phone even in third world countries?
Before you say “what about the poor people” in the US at least, even poor people can get a subsidized free phone through the UCF (?) government fund
Also see: no I’m not going to waste development time di you can get to a website I develop with JS disabled or so you can use lynx
2FA is a requirement in Europe. I can't log into my bank account without my phone being able to run the app.
But 2FA is moot if it’s the same device as your bank app, is it not?
Yes. Please tell my bank that.
They know. The EU directive is quite clear that hw tokens are to be preferred over phones. Banks are cheap though and violate it.
I would stop using bank requiring phone app to do banking, simple as that, both my main EU accounts use sms verification codes and extra password, which is fine with me. If they will require an app, they will lose customer.
2FA and Google SafetyNet are two completely different things. Your banking app can implement 2FA without SafetyNet.
Banks often use their app for a second factor auth. here.
I can't deposit checks over the website, and I use a bank with no physical locations near me.
That's true, but the notion that we're still using paper checks in 2026 is so crazy. And yet they remain the cheapest way to handle many transactions in the US financial system. Like a lot of small healthcare providers still prefer to receive paper checks from insurance companies because the electronic payment processors take a 3% fee.
Why won't they just use Bank Transfers? Using Checks or Credit Cards for Payments between companies sounds completely insane and stupid
Yes, it is completely insane and stupid. Direct bank-to-bank transfers require significant administrative work to set up, and may still incur bank fees. For individual consumer accounts most people can use Zelle but it's not universally available.
I haven't had issues with the mobile apps of 3 of the most major US brokerages. They run fine on rooted phone. They do everything I'd want a bank to do anyway.
Ditch your bank if they have issues. If their retention department asks why you're leaving, tell them their app doesn't work.