it would be useful to have a list of these apps: A) the ones that do not work besides google play services, B) those that DO work, but that are not allowed to be published outside the google play store. For B the problem is easily solved, by us sending emails to our banks. So if we have a list of those, we could email the banks to request it!
āThere are about 4,700 banks in the eurozone countries. In the (still) 28 EU member states plus the EFTA countries (European Free Trade Association) there are about 6,600 banks. And how many banks worldwide - no idea.ā ā¦ more ā¦
wow i had no idea about this
haha well ok only of the big banks then 
Hi @Rik a better and practical option would be to ask the bank you have an account with to switch to /e/ or allow other repositories as well
Ha,ha @Manoj. Well, the banks will probably say in a request: Who is /e/ ? Why should we change a working system (Apple, GĀ°Ā°gle)? We have enough work with Bitcoin, Libra and other crypto currencies or something like that.
I had a discussion with Bunq bank. I asked if it was allowed to put the apk in 3rd party store. Their answer was no, this is not safe. Then i asked, well then publish apk on your website, this was also considered unsafe. My argument was, this is very paradoxical because if people canāt download the apk, they go searching on the net, and then it becomes really unsafe. Last i asked how /e/ users can dowload their app, answer was from play store, iād just explained there is no play store on eOS. Very annoying, you get to deal with helpdesk people who lack deep knowledge. I also asked to speak to someone from the security department, no reply. So Bunq is the bank of the NOT so free.
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Thanks for discussing this with a Bank. If banks laugh and say āwhat is /e/?ā well that was the whole point of this thread ā¦to get Banks to accept /e/ or other similar repositories. Good to know that you actually tried to have a discussion with them.
I have had identical experiences with Consorsbank BNP Paribas S.A. German Office and Consbank and DKB (German Credit Bank AG). The so-called support answers in a standardized way and does not want to know anything about custom ROMs. The so-called support answers in a standardized way and does not want to know anything about custom ROMs. The criticism of many users bounces off unheard.
Maybe we make an eOS unfriendly bank topic here 
If all /e/ users describe their negative experiences with banks here, the thread will burst at the seams ;-/
That is ok . It is not /e/ unfriendly it is a ātrustā that institutions across the world have on Google Play store. They do not want to change but unfortunately they would have to change soon. We have seen a number of really big players in the world of business who have approached us to get a non- google solution for their digital platforms. I am assuming they would be discussing ways and means to get out of Googleās stranglehold with others as well. We should be seeing some interesting innovations this year. Most of it is under early stages of development
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Well, I can understand that a bank is cautious that there are no manipulated bank APKs in circulation. I just wonder how they will deal with Huawei. Did you check if the Bunq app is by any coincidence available in Huaweis App Gallery?
I fully agree, but there is another perspective to be kept in mind. Since a few years, banks are challenged enormously by the digitalisation in general and regulations such as the PSD2, the latest European Payment Directive in particular. This stuff is super complex and super costly. There are a lot of implementations they do not necessarily want but banks are obliged to comply with. On the other hand, banks are confronted with fraud - thatās probably costly too.
From a banksā point of view it makes sense to distribute their apps only though recognized distribution channels. They have no interest in experimenting on that side ------ unless a notable number of customers is calling for change (maybe users of a tiny mobile OS that is even not yet published may not count in this respect).
Maybe, if an important player in the market - such as Huawei with its new app store - is calling, that could work out. Of course, this aināt satisfy the needs of privacy concerned usersā¦
What I could rather imagine is that banks are getting self organised - for instance in a way that they set-up a thematic app store for banking apps themselves. If such a banking repository could be integrated into F-Droid (and ideally later on into AppsStore as well) as alternative repository that could be a very starting point for the users and could probably comply with with the security needs of banks.
So, in this case we may find a bank who could be interested in starting that or we raise the interest of a group of banks. But all that is probalby well beyond /e/.
Thatās exactly why they have to host the app themselves, with checksum. Now people get it somewhere from the net. I did get it from Aurora, but thatās not the point. Not hosting your App as a bank and think now all is save is just ignorant.
I think we need to keep pestering banks to share their apps either themselves or on repositories other than Google Play Store. After all we are their customers the least they can do is listen to us. It will take time to break some of these dependencies built up over the last decade but I think with a growing awareness of Googleās misuse of user data, businesses will move in this direction - though it will be a gradual process.
hi all, i also think it is a good idea that we keep asking banks for this, all of us. With enough requests from users they will implement it, eventually. @andrelam , could you expand about what you meant with that banks have to host their apps themselves, with chechsum? It would be good if, in our contacting of banks, we could add a consistent message for a good alternative for them. THeir technical departments might respond to that.
Hey Rik,
What i mean by banks have to host the app themselves, is something like this, a place on their server where you can download the apk. You can check the https url and you will know it is the original apk from the bank. If they also provide a checksum you can check if the file is original with no modification (if you change 1 bit in a file, the checksum will be complete different).
great, is there an app that consumers can use to check the checksum easily (to make it āmom and dad-proofā ?
Iāve been denied numerous times now, going to run out of banks soon haha Most recent response was:
āWe leverage certain Google Services to improve the quality and stability of our digital products. Analytics, Cloud Messaging, Crash Reporting and A/B Testing are all tools that we use in delivering a great experience.ā
This was after I suggested if they really must need to capture some analytics then use ACRAā¦
I even get similar responses from cryptocurrency wallet app developers which you would assume being the nature of cryptocurrency would respect user privacyā¦ another example below after i contacted them after their app would not even launch without play servicesā¦
"Thank you for your patience.
Upon checking with the team, you will not be able to use the app without having the Play Store on your mobile device. The app should be downloaded from it and updated to the latest version."
In summary I feel like these developers are just lazy employees piggy backing off goolags services just to make it easy for their pay cheque and not caring about their end users. This is why I think we are not going to have much luck with big financial institutions without the masses protesting this.
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