Review of Freetrade for Android 😎 (Feedback & Testing)

[nexusmaniac (Marcus)]

I felt that it would be best to keep this separate from the Updates channel

Here’s my review of the first beta version of the Freetrade app on Android It’ll cover the usual stuff, experience of setting up, look & feel of the app, features & bugs (though, I can’t say that I’ve found (m)any bugs ) Let’s get to it, shall we

Setup:

After the initial “pink screen of death” on the version I had, everything was spot on (it’s no big deal, it just took a relaunch of the app)

Rooted Devices

A small aside, I do have a constant issue with my Pixel 3XL running Android Q … There aren’t many people who will be stuck in this situation but I do know how to work around it for now so hopefully nobody at Freetrade reads this or patches the app to stop my workaround

I’d already spotted the Beta button on the Play Store however, there was another update after the message granting me access though, so I guess I didn’t save myself too much time

After getting myself to the latest version (teardown to come), I was able to begin the setup of my account

I went through the setup, it’s the usual affair: Name, Address, DOB, NI, agreement that I’m not a US citizen, etc. but after all of that I did get stuck on the purple screen above I was worried that something had gone wrong but I gave the app a force close / relaunch and I was in

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Using the app:

I’d say it’s a pretty clean app! I like the relatively minimalist design
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to screenshot the ‘lock screen’ (PIN entry screen) but it looks nice and it’s got a responsive keypad (miles better than some banking apps!)

I’ve got a very empty account at the moment I’m sure it’ll look lovely once it’s got some activity but for now, here’s a completely vanilla look at the app

I’ve not found any bugs yet!! Which is amazing for a brand new release (it feels very odd not using :hot_coral_heart: ) Give me time though… I’ll find some

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Suggestions:

Despite being bug-free, for now, I’ve definitely got some suggestions that I need to put out there

• On the “Discovery” page there needs to be a quick scroll bar Search is handy when you know what you’re looking for but if you just want to ‘browse’ then using a fast scroll bar on the side (like Google Photos & the Contacts app) would be fantastic

• I’m sure I’m not the first to say it but fingerprint unlock would be lovely That or making the lock optional like Monzo do If somebody manages to get through my phone’s lockscreen then they’re not going to have any difficulty breaking a 4-digit PIN on Freetrade, are they?

• The Top-Up screen should have an FAQ / Info button right on the page to give users an indication of how long a topup will take - I had no idea how long my initial top-up would take to show up and when I finally found the full FAQ (Portfolio → Account → FAQ ) I couldn’t even search “topup” I had to search “top up” . Only then did I find out that topups would be processed during work-hours

• Removing the “root” checks… My phone’s not rooted but I see an annoying yellow on purple screen alerting me to my “insecure” phone It’s not rooted and it’s secure enough for everything else to run let users have the freedom to do as they wish without forcing them to use Magisk to use the fantastic Freetrade app

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Wrap Up:

I like the app so far, once I start trading I’ll follow this post up if I find any bugs, I’ll be sure to shout the Freetrade team and probably mention them on the forum (if they’re significant enough )

Here’s to many years of Freetrading

Thanks so much for allowing me to be a part of the initial beta rollout

[Wulfy]

Great post welcome to the freetrade partay

[Rollingskies]

Excellent review. 1 more sleep I hope for me…

[Vlad (Vladislav Kozub)]

Hey Marcus, it is certainly interesting to see the early Android release feedback, which is something some of the community members have been waiting for years!

@nexusmaniac

On the “Discovery” page there needs to be a quick scroll bar

@stephen has proposed this idea and I understand this reply probably encompasses the scrolling bar. Considering how popular the “Discovery Search” idea is and the fact that it is already on the Roadmap make me believe that these are already on Freetrade’s radar, so hopefully will see this sooner than later

[GMCay]

Interesting to see there are only 12,075 users behind you. I wonder how accurate this is or what this number is made up of. I believe everyone that had downloaded the Android app was sitting in position 0 along with you, so that’s an unknown number of users, but that must be the number of users that haven’t downloaded either iOS or Android app (assuming, because I don’t think the waitlist distinguished between operating systems). Are you able to see your user number in the Android beta that would give us an idea of current user count? The waitlist got up to 60k I believe, so interested to know where we stand after iOS onboarding was opened fully.

[tbowditch]

@nexusmaniac

On the “Discovery” page there needs to be a quick scroll bar

@nexusmaniac

but fingerprint unlock would be lovely

I second these.

@nexusmaniac

Removing the “root” checks…

Wonder if it’s a compliance thing?

[Peter]

@tbowditch

Wonder if it’s a compliance thing?

Unlikely. Monzo doesn’t do it - if anything it’ll be an over enthusiastic interpretation of a regulation that doesn’t actually mean what people think it means. But that feels quite unlike Freetrade, tbh.

[christopher]

@nexusmaniac

Removing the “root” checks… My phone’s not rooted but I see an annoying yellow on purple screen alerting me to my “insecure” phone It’s not rooted and it’s secure enough for everything else to run let users have the freedom to do as they wish without forcing them to use Magisk to use the fantastic Freetrade app

Well said. Apps from Degiro, Revolut, HSBC and so on all work without issue for me on LineageOS – heck, even HL runs like a dream nowadays, so I hope Freetrade’s no different. Thanks for the heads up on Magisk!

[villageorge (George)]

@nexusmaniac

Rooted Devices

A small aside, I do have a constant issue with my Pixel 3XL running Android Q … There aren’t many people who will be stuck in this situation but I do know how to work around it for now so hopefully nobody at Freetrade reads this or patches the app to stop my workaround

I’m not super well versed on rooting or unlocking bootloaders, but I have a Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite on Pie which I unlocked the bootloader to get the Camera2 API enabled to install gCam haha… I had an issue with NowTV two weeks ago, would I have similar issues with Freetrade as it stands?

[Edkemp (Edward Kemp)]

How did you get it working??

[Wulfy]

Working brilliantly my end. Even got a notification on my linked smart watch that my bank deposit arrived.

[Viktor]

@ytsruh

it actually looks nicer than the iOS app…

I agree.

[Vlad (Vladislav Kozub)]

@Viktor

I agree.

Bias detected

[kenny (Kenny Grant)]

As an iOS user really excited and happy to see Android users join us at last.

Happy trading everyone!

[Wheatley (James Wheatley)]

I’m still waiting for the opportunity to test it just hope the Android Q issue is sorted soon but will be keeping an eye out

[mikesmart]

It’s both working and looking great here.

One thing to note, when entering the numerical amount to invest, then moving down to change the order type to basic, the ‘pop up’ to make this change is hidden behind the keyboard (since it’s still open from entering a value). It’s a small detail, and maybe due to my phone’s settings, it doesn’t affect functionality as the keyboard can be manually minimised to then select the order type.

All in all I’m hugely impressed. Congratulations all, and have fun tonight!

[Gemhappe (Gemma Happe)]

I’m glad that’s working for you

We will look into the issue with the pop up and keyboard, thanks for letting us know!

[J4ck (Jack)]

Are you adding more people to the Android app today?

[Edkemp (Edward Kemp)]

The app looks amazing you guys, I had a minor issue with it crashing upon signing up but everything else looks fab!

[Gemhappe (Gemma Happe)]

Great to hear

Please do in-app message us about your crashing issue, as we’d love to fix that.