Highly doubt it, it does not on Windows Edge for mobile devices so I have reasons to assume it won’t work on Librem 5 either. When following the link you’ll see organizations like banks in Europe do not allow for users to access their account information other than provided by dedicated and approved apps in Google Store or Apple Store.
Not having easy acces to banking information would be a dealbreaker to many potential customers. It would be a comforting thought having the banking options tested by devs.
The Purism Devs already have too much on their plate, and they frankly need to focus their time and energy on more important things, like polishing libhandy, phosh and phoc and the essential apps (Calls, Chatty, Web, King’s Cross, multimedia player, Calendar, Contacts, etc.).
We, the Librem 5 users, should take responsibility for testing the software and web pages not being developed by Purism.
I think that we should set up a wiki where people can start testing apps, and listing what doesn’t work and testing critical web pages like banking access in order to evaluate how well they work. We are definitely going to need to do this for cellular networks, so that potential Librem 5 buyers can check how well the phone works with their local cellular provider before buying.
And there’s no way to pick “show desktop site” or the similar? In fact, if you run the “normal” version of Firefox, I don’t see how the bank website can even know that you’re using a mobile device (IP address lookups are not useful here, since a non-negligible number of people use cellular networks for Internet access in fixed locations or via a hotspot).
If Librem 5 wants to be appealing to non tech savvy potential customers and purism will be providing the accompanied store for Librem users, people will expect a watertight solution for mobile banking. I totally agree developers should focus on the priority list. In order to end the discussion whether or not online banking will be working of the bat, I can imagine it is not to much trouble for those having access to a dev kit to collectively log into their own banking account, doing a quick check and report back if they succeeded (+name bank), especially when it comes to European banks due to the very restricting new legislation on that continent. Like willing people like @maximilian is doing in his app testing thread, I presume there are quite a few others with dev kits willing to do a 5 minute test, it would be interesting to see what they will come up with.
Proving easy access to online banking will most definitely reassure potential customers like myself who are into the Purism /Librem philosophy and concept in buying but are still on the fence about pre-ordering one. Current most heard cons in the decision making process like being more ‘expensive’, ‘bulkier’, etc compared to mainstream smartphones providing x number of RAM compared to ‘only 3GB RAM’ arguments will then turn out to be almost non-existent.
Most of the apps I currently use have functions that can be accomplished through a browser, so I’m not concerned. Bryan Lunduke showed us that we an install programs with apt, so I may do that (especially Aisle Riot)
Having confirmation and tests for European banks in particular (browser URL -> redirected to m.mobile) would still be much appreciated. Not ordering one before an official announcement banking URL’s/apps will work in Europe.
Besides the ‘basics’ that is worked on by developers, banking apps are one of the most used, one would expect these to be considered essential for Librem 5 to be accepted not only by early adopters. Failing to get those working upon delivery will be a miss. Better have it tested now.
The apps I am most concerned about are the Samsung Gear and Samsung Health apps for connecting to a smartwatch I got as a gift. Other than that, SMSSecure/Silence support would be nice.
It is not Purism’s responsibility to create apps for other companies. They do not have access to xyz company’s security system, data structures, etc.
If a large enough demand is placed on companies they should develop apps for the platform. I’ve also wondered, since we’ll have root access from the beginning, why couldn’t we be able to emulate or trick a website into thinking the Librem 5 is a desktop browser?
I’m just now realizing that the online bank (which doesn’t suck) that I’m with now only allows the initiation of scheduled check payments by mail with their mobile device app. I’m going to have to jump through a hoop of an Android (or iOS) emulator to do this in the future.
I’m going to be a two device person for a while so it’s not urgent, but I can see how a money movement app on a mobile dev would be important. I guess I could do some weird trick between two banks to pull off online payments without a mobile app, but having a PureOS app that worked like GooglePay would be a solution, and (I assume without justification) since it would work on any Linux system it might pull in developers from the general population instead of just Purism.
It is complicated though. Purism needs to create a critical mass of apps that will be enough to sell the phone as a credible alternative. Thereafter, it is a three way juggling exercise of responsibility between: the user (this is free, right?), the company and Purism.
If it’s niche (connecting some random smartwatch manufactured by a company that is large enough to ignore us?) then it’s probably going to come down to an enthusiastic motivated user.
A wish list. Not likely but a nice to have would be:
BlueDriver ODB2 Scanner
FLIR Camera App
Both have associated hardware dongles. Everything else I need can be done by whats already built in or via web browser.
Edit:
A Unifi App would be nice but should be functional via a full featured desktop browser.
Hi, my personal wishlist app on the L5 could be:
Browser: Firefox (duckducktogo)
Chat/messaging: Telegram
Maps & navigator: something that works also off-line; great if possible to connect to the Automotive-infotainment system of the car, like Android Auto or Mirror link
Vocal recognition (with Android-auto you can chat using Telegram)
VPN
Torch
Camera App
Translator App
Calendar App
Unit converter
E-mail
Calculator
‘Criptopocket’ (where to save data/psw)
Video player
.pdf reader
100% agree about Silence : does anybody use it ? it is THE SMS app to have.
It send E2E encrypted message so nobody (telephone company, man in the middle, etc.) can decrypt it. I would be so happy that Purism adds Silence Protocol (which is open source) to the Librem 5 SMS app.
Regarding instant messaging app via 3G/4G, Signal might be OK, through I think there is a failure in their process : Signal centralizes your phone number and Signal contacts in their servers. They know when and how often you call them. Not to mention what I’m not sure about, namely the ability to decrypt messages since the encryption key is made in “Signal Protocol”. The goal of E2E encryption is to not trust 3rd party. Here, you have to trust Signal server and you cannot use it if you fork Signal. The company says they don’t keep data, so we have to trust it (opposite of E2E encryption).
But well, sadly I haven’t found such an open-source equivalent that is so easy to use, multy-platform, and so robust at the moment, I’m still looking. There is Nextcloud Talk, but on Android, developers use Google Cloud Messenging, which is far from good for privacy.
Sounds cool. That should definitely be on the radar, maybe not for v1.0 though.
Even though the content is protected, SMS by its very nature leaks metadata. Who sent a message to whom? When? Approximate length of message? Was there a reply? Was there a back-and-forth conversation?