| ▲ | tfrancisl 3 hours ago |
| What's stopping me from using a browser to log in to my bank? Assuming my bank is one of the ones that requires you to lock down sideloading (they aren't, but i know many are). |
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| ▲ | owaislone 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| Nothing is stopping you. You're free to use a desktop web app that either doesn't work or is terribly slow or has limited features on a mobile web browser. I'd love it if all apps were PWAs but that is not the case. |
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| ▲ | georgeecollins 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | My broker has a much more fully featured web app then it does on iOS or Android. You can do things in a browser that the phone apps will send you to a browser to do. BofA is just as good of a web app. Maybe people are just used to using their phones? | | |
| ▲ | limagnolia 19 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Can you deposit checks from the webapp? That is the feature most often missing in banking webapps. It isn't something I need often, fortunately. | |
| ▲ | georgeecollins 43 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | Looking down the thread I am also thinking maybe this is a Europe thing? I am usa. |
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| ▲ | thesuitonym an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | That's not terribly compelling. Android and iOS banking apps also don't work, are terribly slow, and have limited features. | |
| ▲ | mikestew an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | Eh? The bank apps I’ve seen appear to be webviews wrapping their mobile site. Much to my chagrin, I’ll add. |
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| ▲ | terribleperson 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I had to replace a credit card yesterday. Part of the default flow involves the call center sending a notification to your app.
When I told them my android version was too old, it took them twenty minutes to find out they could instead send a text message. That text message sends you to a photo-and-id verification service, but that's another issue. Soon, there won't even be an alternative flow. There are a lot of places where there already isn't. |
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| ▲ | georgeecollins 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Are you sure? This seems like a forum with a lot of early adopters and a lot of late adopters still use browsers, email, text messages. Like, let me guess that your credit cars isn't capitol one. Not that it should be, but that would be more "normie". |
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| ▲ | cesarb 31 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > What's stopping me from using a browser to log in to my bank? The "security module" they require you to install on your computer. In the past, when browsers had plugins, this was a browser plugin; nowadays, it's an always-on service (running as root) which exposes a local HTTP server which the bank site connects to to validate your computer. For an example from a major bank in this country (the same "security module" is used by several banks in this country), https://seg.bb.com.br/home.html is the diagnostic page for that "security module" (the FAQ page there has links to the installers). |
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| ▲ | Yeroc 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The websites don't have feature parity with the apps these days. Things like being able to deposit a cheque aren't available among other things. |
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| ▲ | lopis an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | Some older banks do have more features in their website than their app. It's usually the ones with the worse, most outdated UIs and almost useless mobile apps. After years of using several mobile-first neo-banks, I switched to a traditional bank and boy, was I not ready for the trip back in time. | |
| ▲ | encom 38 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | >deposit a cheque That would be inconvenient if this was 1985. |
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| ▲ | Alpha3031 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Some banks are app only and/or build MFA functionality into their apps. |
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| ▲ | thesuitonym an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | That would be a hell naw from me. | |
| ▲ | wseqyrku 35 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | You know the web is also bits and bytes right? Someone who has a say should fix it so banks can do whatever they need right in the browser. |
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| ▲ | inigyou 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The 2FA code you need to get from the phone app to log in on a desktop. It isn't 2005 any more. |
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| ▲ | Aachen 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Apparently I live in 2005 then? I do 2FA with the same chip+pin method that I use to pay in the store. Works in any browser | | |
| ▲ | patall 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Maybe that is possible in Germany. It is impossible here in Sweden. Or in other words: of course you can have mobile bankid without a smartphone, just use a tablet computer ;) | | |
| ▲ | patall 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | @fsflover: and my mobile phone provider. And my insurance. And my eletricity provider. And my housing associations customer portal. Getting doctors appointments. Mortgage. Union. National retirement savings account. Some of these may have some alternative left, but far too many you will be left out. Well, I can buy a train ticket without it, so I could still leave. | | |
| ▲ | epihelix 23 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Do you mean to say that all these services require strong device integrity to function in Sweden?? In Australia, no local app that I'm aware of (banking, finance, government, medical) requires any form of device integrity - otherwise I couldn't use them. The only exception I've encountered is Google Wallet. I wonder why there would be such a difference in policy between countries, not only in government but across the private sector? This doesn't make any sense to me. If anything, I'd expect Sweden to have a more sensible, left wing attitude than Oz. |
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| ▲ | fsflover 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Looks like it is possible in Sweden: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47562094 Consider switching your bank to one not forcing you into American megacorps. |
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| ▲ | stvltvs 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Highly location dependent. This is more true in Europe than in America. | |
| ▲ | tcfhgj 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | my bank (and others) doesn't require the 2f to be a smartphone | |
| ▲ | jonathanstrange 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Right, 2FA. My bank wants me to log in to my phone app and then sends an SMS to the same phone to confirm the app transaction. It's super-secure. |
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| ▲ | saidinesh5 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The bank website typically needs the app to enable two factor authentication in a lot of places. For eg. There's no browser based alternative to make UPI payments that i know of. |
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| ▲ | gf000 35 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Well, it's kinda hard to scan a QR code displayed on your screen when the camera is attached to its back (semi-joking) |
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| ▲ | TFNA an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| In many countries, all major local banks require their phone app as the second factor to log in to the browser version of their online banking. Sometimes functionality is removed from the browser version and made available only in the phone app. |
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| ▲ | drnick1 an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | "Many" is doing a lot of work here. A more accurate statement would be that some banks in some countries require invasive apps, but fortunately it isn't the case everywhere (yet). | | |
| ▲ | renehsz a minute ago | parent [-] | | This is a huge problem in EU countries! The relevant regulations are Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/389 and the earlier Directive (EU) 2015/2366. While these laws are deliberately vague when it comes to specific technologies, they do require at least two independent factors from different categories, such as knowledge (password) and possession (phone). That, in and of itself, wouldn't be a problem. The way most banks implement it, however, is by giving you two choices: 1. You use their mobile app (which likely requires device attestation and Google Play Services, so won't work on a plain LineageOS install) 2. You use their CardTAN device, which is extremely inconvenient to always carry around. Sure, we nerds might argue they should just let us use our Yubikeys or regular old TOTP, but pretty much no bank implements that. (Why? Your guess is as good as mine.) Personally, I had to buy a second stock Samsung phone just for banking apps. And yes, there are still alternatives (only very very few though), but no, none of them are convenient, for various unrelated reasons. I wouldn't be surprised if this continues to spread to the US too, under the sneaky disguise of "security". |
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| ▲ | dotancohen an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | And what do people without a smartphone use? | | |
| ▲ | renehsz 29 minutes ago | parent [-] | | A hardware-based CardTAN device, which is super inconvenient. Or else they can't do any online banking at all. crying in EU :( |
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| ▲ | DANmode an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | Name five. | | |
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| ▲ | justsomehnguy 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| The bank itself. They want to see where are you, what you do and snoop on anything they can about you. Having a spywa^W sorry, bank app is the best way to do that. Source: my bank which recently 'upgraded' a browser version to a glorified SPA which even renders as a vertical oriented app on a landscape 4K monitor. |
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