Android phone, approve payment in app…!

Tech query….
I have to approve all my online purchases in my Natwest banking app.
When I open the app, approve and return to the chrome window the page has reset so I can’t click confirm. I am having to use 2 devices to make payments so that I can order on one and use the app on the other. GFs phone allows her leave chrome, go to the app and then return.
I assume it must be a phone / chrome setting…. Anyone know please?

What is the phone

If you have enabled developer settings it can affect how certain apps function.

Sounds more like a bug in Chrome. Are you on a very old phone?
I also suggest a more secure browser, something like Duckduckgo or Firefox. They might play better with the NatWest App, especially if you’re on an old phone running older version of Android

If you have enabled developer settings it can affect how certain apps function.

Aye, right down at the bottom is a setting for background tasks. I think it resets to default on a reboot though.

Having to open up a banking app to authorise all online purchases sounds like a right pain in the arse though, I’d be addressing that. Other payment methods and forms of MFA are available. Set up Paypal and / or Google Authenticator?

I’m with RBS so the same system, doesn’t ask for all payments to be authorised though and works fine on my Pixel 5, did fubar it and a few other apps in developer more though.

Maybe a dumb question, but are you using the Google app, or Chrome?

My Wife searches for stuff in Google, finds what she wants and then it resets or refreshes or re-somethings and she can’t find the page again.

I tell her all the bloody time to use Chrome instead of Google, but it doesn’t sink in.

Are you using the square button and scrolling back to chrome to the page you were on, or opening Chrome up again from your home page. Took me a while to work out that I had to use the square button at the bottom of the screen rather than the chrome app button.

I get this too, quite annoying. Doesn’t happen every time, but 80% of the time it does. After approving in the NatWest app, switching back to the chrome browser seems to force a page refresh in chrome which makes the payment confirmation fail.

I have a similar problem with some website payment systems.

Happens when the website’s payment service asks my credit card company to send me an authorisation code by SMS.  Unfortunately, those SMS messages bury the code i need about 2 lines into the message, so I don’t see it in the popup SMS notification.  That means I have to switch to my SMS app to see the authorisation code.  When I then switch back to the website payment screen to enter that code, the entry ‘window’ has tried to refresh and vanished.

Bloody infuriating!

Usually if you switch back to chrome from another app and it refreshed the page it’s because it’s run out of memory, try clearing the cache for chrome in the app settings and if that doesn’t work your phone might just be too old to keep both apps running simultaneously.

I’m with Natwest and have to approve large purchases and infrequently random small ones, not had this issue though. I’d try changing browser just to rule out if it’s a Chrome thing or not. I don’t think it should asking approval for every purchase either…

I worked out with my Santander that you have to wait for and click on the banking app notification to approve.
You click on that notification.
This then keeps ‘live’ the webpage while you do the biometric approval.
And it takes you back to the purchase page after.

Do NOT yourself come ‘off’ the purchasing webpag go and open the banking app yourself.

(Edit: Android 12 and now 13 on Redmi Note 10 Pro, all apps up to date.)

Having to open up a banking app to authorise all online purchases sounds like a right pain in the arse though, I’d be addressing that

It’s pretty much standard in most of europe.
I’ve been doing it ~10 years, it’s only ever been a pain in the arse when dealing with UK retailers (who process through UK based processing companies/banks, who regularly fail the security checks done by any of the banks/card issuers I use, SagePay/Opayo being one of the worst offenders (almost 100% failure rate))

Same as Matt up there, with my Nationwide, I wait for the notification click that and it then takes me to the app to approve then takes me straight back to the chrome page. Doesn’t actually fully open the banking app. Easy peasy.

Moto G9+

Works absolutely fine for me. Chrome and a mixture of Barclaycard, NatWest, Lloyds and Halifax apps. Can open apps directly or by notifications. Chrome just sits waiting.

Do you have lots open? Could be low memory and the app causes it to run out causing chrome to release some by ‘closing’ the page.

@cougar don’t think I’ve come across a bank app that allows other than app, text or phone for MFA. All of which require context switching. As would authenticator or similar.

airvent
Free Member

Usually if you switch back to chrome from another app and it refreshed the page it’s because it’s run out of memory, try clearing the cache for chrome in the app settings and if that doesn’t work your phone might just be too old to keep both apps running simultaneously.

👆 wot they said

clear some tabs and/or unused apps and then try.

Some phones have idiotic memory settings however which cause this issue regardless.

Cougar

Having to open up a banking app to authorise all online purchases sounds like a right pain in the arse though, I’d be addressing that. Other payment methods and forms of MFA are available. Set up Paypal and / or Google Authenticator?

You don’t have to open the app, you get a push request, tap the notification and it popups up a fingerprint/code request.

Wy wife had the same issue – the latest updates to the phone/natwest banking seem to have cured it, and while still occsionally being asked to approve “in app”, it does now at least work, and take her back to the right screen.

Randomly, paying for parking using the derby city council MIPermit app requires natwest approval for tiny amouts (<£1), but many other transactions of much larger values don’t. Its totally bonkers and inconsistent.

Go nuclear and Switch banks?

@cougar don’t think I’ve come across a bank app that allows other than app, text or phone for MFA. All of which require context switching. As would authenticator or similar.

What I mean is,

Whilst I don’t make a lot of online purchases on my phone (I prefer to use a full-size keyboard) and I’m not with Natwest, I don’t recall ever having to touch my banking app to authorise a web purchase. For money transfers yes, but not regular purchases.

I don’t know if you are already, but rather than hitting the chrome icon again, are you dragging up from the bottom of the screen and hitting the relevant window?

@Cougar – a swap of banks to Santander brought with it seemingly more authentication requests via its app and biometric passwords. This is buying online particularly, whether on desktop or on the mobile device with my bank app on.

I still bank elsewhere, but they never seem to ask for the same process.

I prefer the (slick) Santander approach, it is another nice level of 2FA to me.

I don’t know if you are already, but rather than hitting the chrome icon again, are you dragging up from the bottom of the screen and hitting the relevant window?

That is not needed if you go via the banking app notification – it swaps the screens for you.

@Cougar – a swap of banks to Santander brought with it seemingly more authentication requests via its app and biometric passwords. This is buying online particularly, whether on desktop or on the mobile device with my bank app on.

That must be an account setting somewhere. What if you don’t have the app installed?

I’m a strong advocate of MFA, but prompting every time you buy something seems excessive. Security vs convenience is always going to be a compromise. If I were to lose my phone I’d be more concerned about fraudulent NFC swipes than anything past the screen lock.

I have this issue with HSBC, I haven’t seen an option to open the banking app from the webpage. I just choose the SMS option and can usually view the code without fully opening my messages.