In a digital world where people are doing most of their work on the go using their beloved smartphones, it makes sense why businesses would want to adapt to these changes. Banks are one of the many businesses that have embraced this trend by releasing smartphone apps for their clients and on the local front, I cannot tell of any major financial institution that has no Android/iOS app of some sort for its customers.
A couple of days ago, I complained about Equity Bank’s EazzyBanking App that was becoming a little aged when compared to modern app design and user interface elements. While the core features of the app remained intact and functional, I was disappointed on the app’s slow approach to updates. Since I started using Equity’s App, some time back in January 2017, the Group had not pushed any updates, despite there being a lot of things that needed to be fixed, in addition to normal bug squashing and performance improvements.
To the relief of everyone, EazzyBanking App did receive an update that fixed most of the gripes I had with it. Here are new inclusions:
Home Page Redesign
Equity’s brown theme and accents are prominently plastered on the homepage. New animations are in tow, especially when launching the App. They appear to be faster and visually appealing. The homepage has been redesigned, for example, the top left is segmented for a user’s avatar, which you can set before logging into the app. Right next to it is a welcome message, which, if I remember well, was previously missing. There is also a login button right below the welcome message.
I have also noticed that you need to set your avatar before logging in as an in-profile setup crashes the app. Collapsing the Quick Actions menu gives access to the stock market and a currency buying/selling platform, as seen above.
Quick Actions
The other half of the homepage, which can be collapsed with a down-pointing arrow has most of the app’s features dubbed ‘Quick Actions’ as shown in the image above. You can perform actions such as sending money to target accounts (Equity, PesaLink, WhatsApp and M-PESA), pay bills, EazzyPay or purchase airtime. Worth noting is that you can now buy airtime for Telkom Kenya numbers.
Login Changes, App Experience and Pay bill
YOU DO NOT need to login to perform any of the above functions. To put it differently, users can initiate any quick actions and before payment is authorized, the app will prompt you to enter your PIN. Previously, you had to login into the app (with your PIN) to perform a transaction, which prompts a user for a PIN again. However, the option is still there if you want to take the long route.
Sending money/airtime to your contacts reads your address book. There is an autocomplete function when you start inputting a number (a feature that we first saw in Android 4.0 back in 2012), which is a nice touch for completing tasks fast. In addition, there are hundreds of notable pay bill numbers within the app, so you do not need to memorize all of them. Similarly, the app saves most recent/commonly used bills or contacts for quick access.
Others
Once logged in, you will realize that the app experience is the same, this is not necessarily a bad thing as all features keep their positions, ensuring that there is no steep learning curve. The only notable improvement is that the app’s DPI adjustment and fonts are smaller as you can see more content. You can also edit the background colour from settings.
It should be noted that the update focused on quick access to features that were previously accessible upon logging in. With these changes, EazzyBanking App has become even more recommendable for new users and early adopters alike.
Download EazzyBanking App on Android and iOS.
Read More: I Opened an Equity Bank Account from my Smartphone, Here is How it Went
