Tesco Bank app seems to have disappeared from Android Play Store

Molehusband

I've had the Tesco Bank app on an Android device for a while and it is working fine for viewing my savings accounts. I'm now trying to install the same app on another Android (tablet) device but it is now not being displayed on Play Store list. Yes, there are lots of Tesco related apps showing such as:

Tesco Mobile, Tesco Clubcard, Tesco Grocery & Clubcard, Tesco Pay+ for simple checkout and others, but no Tesco Bank app.

Does anyone have a precise location from where I can download and install the Android Tesco Bank app? Alternatively, since I have the app already successfully installed on another Android device, is there some way I can copy it from that device to the new device?

molerat

I have had that problem before.  It all depends on your device and Android version.  I seem to remember it has never been very tablet friendly and although it states that v4.14.1 is Android 6 and above it is not available for our Android 6, 7 & 10 tablets.

edit: Looking at the Tesco community forums the official line is that tablets are not supported, only phones, so you are stuck and will have to use on line banking through your web browser.

Molehusband

molerat said:

I have had that problem before.  It all depends on your device and Android version.  I seem to remember it is not very tablet friendly and although it states that v4.14.1 is Android 6 and above it is not available for my our Android 6, 7 & 10 tablets. Unless you can download an APK from somewhere - which is not really advisable for a banking app - you are stuck and will have to use on line banking through your web browser.

Thanks for your input. I've actually got several Android phones using either Android 11 or Android 12. I installed the Tesco banking app on them over several years ago and in all cases it's been updated to the current v4.14.1.

I also have 2 Android 11 tablets which do not currently list the Tesco Banking app in Google Play. However on one of these tablets a year or two ago I did have Tesco Bank app for a while. But a few months ago it started to show faults (presumably because of updating problems?). I uninstalled it and assumed the problem would be fixed by reinstalling. Unfortunately I then found that Google Play no longer showed it on its list of apps, which is where I am now.

Yes, I do use Tesco online banking through web browser which I prefer to use for entering data such as transactions. So that's not a problem for me. However, while I'm happy to use the app I only use it for displaying transactions, balance etc. I don't wish to use the microscopic non-keyboard which makes it almost impossible to enter complicated data.

What puzzles me is that on all my Android phones Google Play lists Tesco Bank as an available app but it's missing on my tablets. Looking at

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tescobank.mobile

I see that the app name has been changed to Tesco Bank and Clubcard Pay+. Then it says This app is available for some of your devices and lists all my devices below, telling me that it's only available on my phones and not tablets. It gives no reason  for lack of tablet support. This is unfortunate, since if I do ever want to use an app for mobile banking, I dislike the microscopic non-keyboards on phones so much but at least the alternative of a tablet has the virtual keyboards a little bigger.

So it seems that Tesco insists that its mobile app is only available for use with microscopic keyboards available on phones.

alanwsg

You can give it a go, install the App called "Apk Extractor" on your phone.
That'll extract the APK file that installs the Tesco banking App.
Move that file to your tablet and try installing it.
(You'll have to enable 'install from unknown sources' in the tablet's settings).

Molehusband

alanwsg said:

You can give it a go, install the App called "Apk Extractor" on your phone.
That'll extract the APK file that installs the Tesco banking App.
Move that file to your tablet and try installing it.
(You'll have to enable 'install from unknown sources' in the tablet's settings).

Thank you, that sounds an extremely useful app which I wasn't aware of. I have in the past managed to obtain .apk files from websites after Google Play discontinued an app I still wanted. This enabled me to install it on other devices. So I'm aware of the 'install from unknown sources' setting.

I've now installed "Apk Extractor" and created the necessary Tesco APK file. Well amazingly, I installed it on my first tablet and it works! So what I can't understand it why Tesco itself seems to have prevented tablet customers from downloading their banking app directly.

Anyway that "Apk Extractor" app will probably be very useful in future if I need to move another app across my devices when Google Play gets in the way.

One final question for you. Since during this procedure I had to invoke the 'install from unknown sources' feature to enable installation of the Tesco APK, how do I turn off that ability to install foreign APK files to prevent future accidental installation of unwanted APKs?

Molehusband

molerat said:

edit: Looking at the Tesco community forums the official line is that tablets are not supported, only phones, so you are stuck and will have to use on line banking through your web browser.

As mentioned earlier, I have no problem using Tesco online banking through web browser as I dislike the microscopic non-keyboards on phones for keying in complicated data. However, I do find mobile apps useful for viewing data (without complicated data entry needs).

Well, thanks to the helpful input from alanwsg, I've managed to get the Tesco Bank app installed on the first of my tablets and so far it seems to be working perfectly.

Can anyone explain that to the Tesco community forums and ask them  why these hoops have been put in place to prevent those of us with tablets from installing the Tesco Banking app?

phillw

Molehusband said

 how do I turn off that ability to install foreign APK files to prevent future accidental installation of unwanted APKs?

Go into settings. Search for "unknown"

On mine takes me to special app access menu with install unknown apps highlighted.
Then I click that and it lists all the apps with and without permission. Then I select the app I want to change and change it.

But yours might be different.

Molehusband

phillw said:

Does it can

Molehusband said

 how do I turn off that ability to install foreign APK files to prevent future accidental installation of unwanted APKs?

Go into settings. Search for "unknown"

On mine takes me to special app access menu with install unknown apps highlighted.
Then I click that and it lists all the apps with and without permission. Then I select the app I want to change and change it.

But yours might be different.

Yes, I found "Install unknown apps" setting and it gives me a mysterious small list of about 40 apps. I have no idea what is special about these apps that it decides to display them. This list includes apps such as Firefox, Greggs, Aldi, Dingtone, Saffron Building Society, Standard Life Assurance... etc. All but one of the 40-odd apps are marked "not allowed". In addition around 15 of the apps are also marked "Auto disabled". and then for just one app called File Manager it says Allowed.

I have no idea why these 40 odd apps have been singled out and some given these very mysterious looking tags. It's as if Tommy Cooper has re-emerged and pulled out his comedy magic tricks.

I've just thrown a coin and decided that I should set the single Allowed app File Manager to Not Allowed, but will it result in the outcome that I want? viz:

Does it undo my earlier setting for 'install from unknown sources' ?

Olinda99

I know i am probably being a party pooper but presumably Tesco prohibited installing their banking app on these tablets for a reason...

Remember it is your bank account you are messing with by bypassing these controls.

Why have Tesco done this? I don't know - but more to the point, nor do you.

Molehusband

Olinda99 said:

I know i am probably being a party pooper but presumably Tesco prohibited installing their banking app on these tablets for a reason...

If there was a "prohibition" Tesco would have informed customers. I've received no such notification and therefore assume I can continue to use it as it's working fine. In fact I'd go further and say it works significantly better than when used in a phone with the microscopic non-keyboards.

Olinda99

ok .........