Today I have finally been able to use V3 on my own account, instead of having to secretly play on my girlfriend's phone ;). After playing around with it for some time, I have got some thoughts and feedback. Now, I know I’m not always the most easily satisfied bunqer, but I will try and keep things constructive and positive :).
First things first, I must say I really the approach bunq took in preparing for the public launch of V3. A pre-launch session with a select group of users, a public beta, and then a roll-out. I think some improvements in terms of handling and processing feedback are needed, but it’s a positive thing that users got involved in this way!
So, about the app’s design...
Me
The ‘Me’ tab brings a nice change in my opinion. I like how the accounts are spread over 2 columns, allowing me to see way more accounts in one overview!
I’m somewhat less keen on the content of the 3 circles at the top (money saved, trees planted and time saved): I don’t feel this information is very relevant for me to have at the top of my overview. In addition, I feel the numbers don’t really make much sense (I saved 5 months by opening accounts?). I think it would be really cool if I could set these circles as menu buttons for my ‘cards’ and ‘all events’ instead!
Us
One thing I love about bunq is its community and I can really understand bunq’s decision to increase the focus on this. The initial screen of the ‘Us’ tab doesn’t really appeal so much to me, as I’m not much of an Instagram person. I do like the implementation of ‘Together’ under the ‘+’ button and think that maybe the initial screen could be more designed to show off Together!
Profile
I must say that I find the insights (pie chart) really cool and I think it deserves a prominent part in the app. However, I’m not sure if that place should be in the ‘Profile’, where you expect to find your personal information and settings. Personally, I would have split the contents of this tab up in 2 different tabs: ‘Insights’ and ‘Profile’.
General
One thing I really liked about V2 was the menu. The menu was clear and concise and you knew exactly where you had to go. In V3, I do think the menu is quite clean, but ‘Me’ and ‘Us’ are a little vague. I would probably have gone with ‘Overview’ and ‘Community’ or something along these lines. This is a minor thing though. Oh, and I would switch the profile and scan tab around :$.
Another large change I noticed is the new ‘+’ button. Although it still takes some getting used to, I actually think it’s a good solution to keep the app feature-packed and clean at the same time!
I think the 3 circles at the top of each tab are a cool idea! However, I feel the contents of these circles are not all that meaningful to me: as said earlier; the money/time saved don’t really seem right to me. The money invested, money donated, total numbers of tree planted, profile completion and profile badges are all things that aren’t as important as other information that is shown on the page. My suggestion would be that these circles could either be toggled on/off, or that the user could customize the contents of them.
Now there is one thing that I find myself to struggle with in the new bunq app: which is the marketing that seems to be all around the app. In pretty much all the tabs and under every button, I notice that it talks about how much time I save, tree’s I plant, money I save, how beautiful the card is and how easy the app is to use (even the title of this topic:' the amazing v3'). I feel bunq genuinely does not need to do this. Your customers are generally impressed with how easy you’ve made banking, but it’s not needed to keep reminding us of all these benefits we have. We are aware ;).
So there’s that. In the years I have been with bunq, I have always greatly appreciated the amazing features the bunq app has to offer. With V3 all of these amazing features are still in place, but with a new look. Overall I think the V3 is still a work in progress, but I actually am confident that bunq will find the right balance and content for each part of the app.
Keep it going guys!
