Update September 2016: Following this post, Mondo were forced to change their name, and are now called Monzo, so we’ve updated the information below to reflect this.
New bank Monzo has begun developing a version of their app for Android devices.
The app was previously only available for iOS, but work has begun to bring the same app-based banking experience to Android:
When Monzo started in 2015, we focused on building the iOS app first. Starting with one platform meant that we were able to release our Alpha version and make improvements very quickly.
The time has now come to expand our efforts. Today we are announcing that version 0.1 of the Monzo Android app is available to download in the Google Play Store – the first glimpse of our plans for the full app later this year.
This first version will allow you to reserve your place in the queue to receive your Monzo MasterCard prepaid debit card, with further functionality to be launched later in the year.
I’ve tested out the iOS version, and it proved to provide a pretty slick user experience, after a few launch teething troubles; I was particularly impressed with the instant transaction notifications when paying for items in stores, or withdrawing money from an ATM:
That’s realtime banking; received notification of withdrawal from @getmondo on my phone as I took my cash from the ATM.
— Rob Lewis (@moneywatch) April 8, 2016
Monzo also does a great job of categorising your spending, and providing information about where you’re spending your money. The issue it has at the moment is that it is not yet a fully-fledged bank (it relies on a pre-paid debit card), so it will struggle to get customers from other banks to switch to it, until it can offer the full bank experience.