There's an App For That

I haven't tried yet ... it's not my main bank (I only set it up to separate any feelance payments and the joint account).

However I don't mind having to have an app to verify logins (Nationwide do this). A quick Yes/No or fingerprint/face scan is no hardship. But having to use a phone to enter War and Peace is a pain - and I grew up with tech.

I've had that with my (feature phone) Nokia. I was on a call and couldn't read the (text) code without dropping the call.

I don't suppose it will matter much once we all have digital accounts with the government, and the whole world will know everything we earn, buy or sell. When we're allowed to.

I've read quite a few dystopias, not just the famous ones, but others by more obscure authors such as Philip E. High and Douglas R. Mason. I considered that a big plot hole in the 'computer runs everything' type of story was that the human species would never have allowed itself to be controlled like this, but now I'm actually seeing it happen in real time...

alan_m snipped-for-privacy@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote

And with a decent smartphone its completely secure with a fingerprint to facial ID required before anyone can do anything with it and you can see the thief trying to get into your phone and where the thief is too unless its in a faraday cage

Not if they can't get into the stolen phone in the first place

Much better to use a phone which uses biometrics to ensure that only the owner can actually use the phone

Bullshiut you are with that list at the end of your first para

Nothing is completely secure. Certainly not fingerprints.

John

John R Walliker snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote

Doesnt need to be when you have multiple levels of security and that is what the best smartphones and banking apps have

suppose you have all your banking and investing apps on a phone.

Which then gets stolen.

SO you buy a new phone. How easy is it to install the apps and then regain access to your accounts?

(In my case all my accounts are accessible via a browser so I can go to any PC and fire up a browser and off I go with usernames and passwords..... so the web browser is not tied to the MAC, IMSI or the IMEI)

I assume that banking & investing apps on smart phones use the MAC, IMSI and IMEI for fraud prevention purposes?

Talking of devices security layer....

I run my own VPN server at home.

All my phones have a VPN client and they all connect back to home over

If the phones are at home, then they connect to the home wifi and then the phones then use my own DNS server and then gains access in the clear to the internet from my home internet.

I have had 3 specific apps that I installed successfully. Upon first use I wanted to set up a new account which was usually an email address. I am then sent a OTP email which I open on the same phone but the OTP is rejected by the app as either invalid or expired(!)

Even the provided magic links in the emails don't work (as an alternative to OTP.

One is not interested in fixing the app and the other has stated that I

SH snipped-for-privacy@spam.com wrote

Trivial with an iphone, just sign on to your apple ID and that is completely automatic

Even easier with an iphone, just sign on to your apple ID, you dont even need to remember the web site to use or the password for each one

Bad assumption

I have an ancient "brick" phone because all I need is to make phone calls and send and receive texts. Computing is done on a desktop. I don't regard myself as a dinosaur, just suitably equipped for my needs.

Any company that excludes me from things because they only provides them via Apps loses my business. Subway used to have a membership card, and waving the card barcode at the reader by the till accumulated points that could be saved until using them for a free Sub.

Then they discontinued the card, gave a deadline to use the earned points before they would be deleted and a new system that was App only would start. I pointed out that the new system would exclude some regular customers, and they replied "Hard Luck" (though very politely worded). I just stopped going there.

If you use Android and backup the requisite Google Account properly, you can restore a phone in minutes.

You will still have to sign into all the apps.

I wouldn't assume anything except they will have done it as cheaply as possible.

Better still, don't put anything too personal on your phone. That way you can get into it easily.

Or just don't put anything important on your phone. Who needs to do banking on the street?

The issue is that banks are increasingly requiring you to use their apps so you have no choice or have two phones, one that lives on your coffee table and one you take with you.

Max Demian <max snipped-for-privacy@bigfoot.com wrote

No thanks, too much of a pain in the arse now that so many require you to do everything using their app, like the banks being discussed and all but illegal drug dealers and their customers aren't silly enough to bother with cash anymore

In fact getting into it using biometrics make it a hell of a lot easier than it has ever been now.

Max Demian <max snipped-for-privacy@bigfoot.com wrote

F*ck that. I do almost everything on my phone now for the convenience

Those whose banks require you to use their app and those who need to make an electronic payment when not at home because they aren't actually silly enough to use folding money anymore

Jeff Gaines snipped-for-privacy@outlook.com wrote

And with that last, you will lose that phone on your coffee table or in a drawer to a burglar when you are at work or out shopping and if you keep it much more securely at home, its a pain in the arse to dig it out of where its secure any time you need to use it.

And you can't do transactions at work when a mate needs you to help them their phone gets stolen or just lost. F*ck that.