WP8 PayPal application to be retired, more work needed on PayPal mobile web

Published by at

The things about online services is that they evolve. And with the evolution comes a need to tweak any client applications (apps) running on the phones of its users. In this case PayPal, which is going through a major back-end revamp, necessitating new application versions for iOS and Android - and the retirement of a number of older clients on other platforms, of which 'Windows Phone' is one. Accessing PayPal via Edge is the recommended option, but I have some concerns...

From the PayPal blog:

Starting on June 3 through June 30, customers using older versions of the PayPal mobile app on Android and iOS will be required to upgrade to version 6.0, the newest version of the PayPal app. Version 6.0 of the PayPal app is currently supported on the following devices:
  • Android devices running OS 4.03 or greater
  • Apple devices running iOS 8.1 or higher: iPhone 4S or greater, iPad 2 or greater, and iPod Touch 5th gen or greater
Version 6.0 of the PayPal mobile app has enhanced features and a new look and feel. We have brought features that our customers use most to the forefront such as send and request money, PayPal balance and transaction history.

For Windows Phone users, we will sunset the current version of the PayPal app on June 30. However, Windows Phone users can still access PayPal through our mobile web experience on Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge browsers. Outlook.com users can also use the PayPal add-in to send money directly from their inbox.

If you are an Amazon Fire or Blackberry user, we will be discontinuing the PayPal app on June 30, after which you will no longer be able to use the app. However, customers on these devices can still log into PayPal on these phones via our mobile web experience. Blackberry users can also continue to use the BBM app to send peer-to-peer payments via PayPal.

It was a difficult decision to no longer support the PayPal app on these mobile platforms, but we believe it’s the right thing to ensure we are investing our resources in creating the very best experiences for our customers. We remain committed to partnering with mobile device providers, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers.

Which is fair enough, except:

  1. What happened to a PayPal UWP? With 300 million+ Windows 10 users, why on earth isn't there a PayPal 'universal' app yet? We should be told... Has PayPal fallen out with Seattle?
      
  2. The 'mobile web' experience for PayPal is currently terrible, I've been trying it on a Windows 10 Mobile device with the Edge browser. Clearly there's a LOT of work needed to be done by PayPal to improve its mobile web site:

Screenshot, PayPalScreenshot, PayPal

Oh dear, you can log in OK on the PayPal mobile web site in a browser like Edge - and then as soon as you start navigating (e.g. using the 'back' control) things start getting unhinged, with long waits and errors like the one above. This is down to poor coding at PayPal's end, methinks....

Source / Credit: PayPal