Halifax have finally released an iPhone app, which has rocketed to the top of the finance app charts on iTunes just a few days after its launch.
With the app, which is now available for free from iTunes, you can:
- Find Halifax branches and cash machines, or LINK ATMs in the UK
- Sign in with your usual Online Banking details
- View account balances and recent transactions
- Set up and make payments.
In a move similar to other banking apps, you don’t have to be a Halifax customer to use the app, but of course the functionality you get will be severely reduced, allowing you just to locate cash machines, so it’s unlikely that it will be downloaded by non-Halifax customers.
If you’re already a Halifax personal Online Banking customer, you don’t need to register to use the app’s Mobile Banking services. You can simply sign in with your normal Online Banking details wherever you have a signal or a wifi connection. If you haven’t registered for Online Banking, it’s possible to do so through the app.
Screenshots
Opening screen:
Choose what you want to do:
Cash machine search results on a map:
Cash machine details:
Despite its quick march to the top of the charts, the app hasn’t garnered a completely positive reaction in the short time since its launch. Several reviewers on iTunes suggest that it is preferable to continue using the website on your iPhone rather than the app.
We’ll give the app a bit of a test over the next couple of weeks and report back our findings in due course. In the meantime, if you have any comments on the Halifax iPhone app, feel free to share them with us below.
I suspect the iPhone app is exactly the same as the Android app which I use. The reviews on Android market are polarised between 5 stars and 1 star.
1 star people (of which I am one) are unhappy because banking using the app is no more convenient than using the site through a mobile browser (because it IS the mobile website, rather than an app you’re viewing when you log in). The app takes care of none of the authentication leg-work, meaning that if you want to use this facility more than once or twice a day you’re going to get sick of the arduous login procedure and awkward layout (final ‘log in button’ is right next to ‘cancel’, making it very easy to cause yourself the pleasure of repeating the experience). Even those people are the lucky ones- many users are getting a blank screen when trying to log in.
5 star reviewers are apparently just delighted that they now have an app that can do what they used to do through their mobile browser without any of the usual convenience you expect from an app. For the 3 customers out there who derive an inordinate degree of pleasure from visiting their bank, the ‘favourite branches’ feature will be a massive boon. Rather than actually make the app convenient to use for banking, perhaps the next version could include a suggested route for people who want to visit all of their local branches.
A very poor effort, but at least it was overdue.
I agree with Andy. This app was very long overdue. Probably rushed to be finished and has unfortunately left inconsistencies in an overall user thumbs up from some…
Not a bad effort but not a brilliant one either.
If they want some ideas, have a look at hsbc’s ‘Fast Balance’ app
It appears to be just as bad as their automated (but not very) phone system, which when trying to authorise my credit card, kept sending me down blind alleys (which required me dialling back again), asking me to phoning different numbers (which were also incorrect), and finally speaking to a person, only be told it was the wrong department. Give her her due, she obviously realised how “frustrated” I was and said she would transfer me, but would not to this blind and stay on the line until I was satisfied. However, the person I was transferred to sounded so “pissed off” and offhand that she couldn’t be bothered. Thanks goodness that I have banked with First Direct from day one 20 odd years ago, who I cant speak too highly of, and have always given 5* service, and their iPhone app is a joy. They are the gold standard. Halifax, you could do so much better (not sure you could be worse)