Problem with Nationwide iOS banking app

MoneySavingTart1

For some months I have been having the NW banking app lock up on my iphone just displaying an out of focus rural scene. The only way out is to shut the phone down and restart.
This happens roughly once a week and I log in most days to check balance and credit card transactions.
I've even tried changing to a newer phone (was 5s now using 7) the App is always updated when new versions come out.
After many emails back and forth NW acknowledge that they know this has been happening at least since iOS12 which must be a couple of years or more.
I'm getting nowhere with trying to get them to fix this. so far they have paid out £125 in compensation to me but I just cannot understand why they either don't fix the app or rollback to a version that works.
Their latest emails are saying if i'm not satisfied them take it up with the banking ombudsman. I'm trying to decide if this is a broad hint from their CS that they actually want it escalated to get the complaints off their back.
So I'm posting here to see if others are affected and if so maybe we can get a bit of pressure applied to NW developers or work out the best plan.

BTW I'm not a newbie here but got locked out of my old account as MoneySavingTart

[Deleted User]

NW are offering you the right to the FOS as they are required to with a complaint that has reached deadlock. It sounds more like a fault with your phone not being able to run the app anymore as they would fix it if many people had this issue. It is at deadlock as they are no longer willing to give you "go away" money and probably hoped you'd take the hint and get an actual new phone.

The "newer" iPhone 7 is still nearly 5 years old and has been replaced numerous times since and will soon no longer be supported by iOS updates (normally 6 years). While it presumably has been updated to something more recent like iOS 15 (Nationwide say app minimum is iOS 11), you might want to try it on something newer like the X series or 11 / SE which should be pretty cheap by now 

eskbanker

MoneySavingTart1 said:

I'm getting nowhere with trying to get them to fix this. so far they have paid out £125 in compensation to me but I just cannot understand why they either don't fix the app or rollback to a version that works.

By your own admission your experience is of an intermittent problem (once a week when using daily) on older tech - such issues are generally harder to fix and of lower priority than more pressing matters with a more significant impact....

MoneySavingTart1

I've only just upgraded to the 7. At no stage have NW suggested the phone is too old. iOS14 is the highest it will run.
I'm a money saver and not a cash splurger on latest phones.
I don't want go away money, I want a bank that  fixes a fault they they know full well happens
I just cannot comprehend why they have not fixed it surely not rocket science.

[Deleted User]

MoneySavingTart1 said:

I've only just upgraded to the 7. At no stage have NW suggested the phone is too old. iOS14 is the highest it will run.
I'm a money saver and not a cash splurger on latest phones.
I don't want go away money, I want a bank that  fixes a fault they they know full well happens
I just cannot comprehend why they have not fixed it surely not rocket science.

Apple say iOS 15 will do it but anyway...

The phones I mentioned are not "latest", they are simply newer, the iPhone X came out in 2018, the iphone 11 in 2019 and the SE in 2020. The SE is £399 on Apple store.

Nationwide are not going waste money to fix a fault that affects one person, hence paying you go away money up until now. It isn't rocket science but it is a lot of coding and expensive for them to pay a developer to investigate why this is happening when 99% chance it's down to your phone being too old to run it. The solution is to not use a phone that when you upgraded, was already 5 years old technology and will be out of support from Apple in 13 months.

JenB79

OP, its not just you. I'm having issues using Face ID on the NW app on latest iOS iphones (iOS is up to date) and regularly get the blurred image when trying to login. Like you, a phone reboot solves this. Yet Face ID works flawlessly on my other banking apps without having to close them in the background.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6292778/nationwide-ios-app-face-id-issues#latest

MoneySavingTart1

Hi Jen, I saw your problem post when searching for similar issues prior to my post.
I'm not sure if my phone supports face id - possibly not. I use finger print but when it fails I don't even get as far as any authentication  so perhaps we have the same problem and face id itself is not the problem.
I'm running 8 banking apps and only NW is failing the rest are fine
 Have you registered a complaint? I went though the normal online messaging on the website and got a load of flannel - try this try that etc and finally asked for it to be escalated to the software team which was when the truth came out about knowing  of the problem and it being in existence since ioS 12 and compensation starting to flow (£100 for this problem plus £25 for an unanswered email)

MoneySavingTart1

Deleted_User said:

MoneySavingTart1 said:

I've only just upgraded to the 7. At no stage have NW suggested the phone is too old. iOS14 is the highest it will run.
I'm a money saver and not a cash splurger on latest phones.
I don't want go away money, I want a bank that  fixes a fault they they know full well happens
I just cannot comprehend why they have not fixed it surely not rocket science.

Apple say iOS 15 will do it but anyway...

The phones I mentioned are not "latest", they are simply newer, the iPhone X came out in 2018, the iphone 11 in 2019 and the SE in 2020. The SE is £399 on Apple store.

Nationwide are not going waste money to fix a fault that affects one person, hence paying you go away money up until now. It isn't rocket science but it is a lot of coding and expensive for them to pay a developer to investigate why this is happening when 99% chance it's down to your phone being too old to run it. The solution is to not use a phone that when you upgraded, was already 5 years old technology and will be out of support from Apple in 13 months.

Sorry £399 is nowhere near what I can justify for a phone.

JenB79

MoneySavingTart1 said:

Hi Jen, I saw your problem post when searching for similar issues prior to my post.
I'm not sure if my phone supports face id - possibly not. I use finger print but when it fails I don't even get as far as any authentication  so perhaps we have the same problem and face id itself is not the problem.
I'm running 8 banking apps and only NW is failing the rest are fine
 Have you registered a complaint? I went though the normal online messaging on the website and got a load of flannel - try this try that etc and finally asked for it to be escalated to the software team which was when the truth came out about knowing  of the problem and it being in existence since ioS 12 and compensation starting to flow (£100 for this problem plus £25 for an unanswered email)

I complained again to NW this morning, the agent asked me "are you using an iPhone 13"?    Sometimes I get the impression NW have employed YTS trainees at their call centres

MoneySavingTart1

My stance is that if Apple are continuing to support a phone model then all the apps in the store should also continue to work fully.
Many moons ago when apple mackintoshes first came out (1980's?) if you wanted to offer software it had to be tested on all known macs before they would allow it to be distributed.
I've booked a call back from the agent dealing with my case later today. Will share details if relevant here afterwards.

colsten

I reckon you won’t consider this helpful: I have been using the NatWest app  (and RBS, which is essentially a clone of it) for well over a year, at least 2-3 times a week, on my iPhone, which is a 10X and usually on the latest iOS level. Occasionally, I also use these apps on my ageing iPad, which also runs the latest iOS levels. Never had any problems with the apps, so it is definitely not an issue affecting all users.

If you find it impossible to do what you need to do with the app, why not just switch your account to another bank? Some banks are even paying you for it right now. 

EDIT: it appears that NW seems to stand for Nationwide in this thread, rather than for NatWest? If so, largely the same applies as I said above. No problems with my Nationwide app in several years. And you can switch away for a bribe.