NatWest and RBS Windows phone apps to be retired in November

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
last updated

Both apps are alerting users that they'll stop working in 60 days.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is killing off two of its Windows phone apps in the coming months. Both the NatWest and RBS apps are now alerting users that they will stop working in 60 days, and neither is available to download from the Microsoft Store any longer.

NatWest

The message being delivered to users states:

In 60 days, your mobile banking app on your Windows device will stop working and is no longer available in the store. To continue banking on the go, you can download the app on an iOS or Android device alternatively you can continue using online banking for your everyday banking needs.

It's not necessarily a surprise to see both apps are saying goodbye to the platform, as Windows phone has seen an exodus of support for banking apps over the past year or so. Windows 10 Mobile itself is no longer seeing active development, only receiving security fixes with each monthly "Patch Tuesday" update.

For now, both RBS (opens in new tab) and NatWest (opens in new tab) are still listed in the Microsoft Store if you use the direct link, but they're no longer searchable and aren't available to download. Given that the message about their retirement began going out to users on September 7, you'll have through the first week of November to continue using the app before it stops working.

Thanks to Envio for the tip!

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

15 Comments
  • DAMN IT.. Edit: Okay, looks like it's only for Wp.8.x users.
    I haven't gotten any such prompt on my L930 running WM10 version 1607, build 14393.
  • I got the notification via txt message direct from NatWest, not through the app. So in that sense, it's not tied to a specific OS version.
  • Interesting, I haven't received any texts about this from Natwest.
  • My wife uses the RBS WM10 app, and hasn't been notified yet. Strange. However, most banks wouldn't know the difference between "Windows Phone" and "Windows Mobile", so I doubt they would have been intending only to shut down the WP8.1 app even if that one exists...
  • ^ L930 club.
  • That would've been a wounded for me if I still had a WM.
  • It's wounded me! NatWest have been improving the app constantly, which looks brilliant on Windows Mobile. There was an update only a week or so ago. I actually started thinking (*dreaming*) that their contiued support against the odds might have seen them push the app onto the Windows store (PC) and make it available for tablets. That would have been excellent and a major help in the face of ongoing branch closures. So much for "helpful banking."
  • If you're moving platforms for your banking app, you may as well move banks at the same time, or at least use a different bank with a new app. Monzo has been pretty damn good, and their Android app is a heck of a lot better than the excellent Natwest Windows mobile app was.
    I jumped to Android a while back after my Windows phone's batter died out. If the battery hadn't died, I'd have still been a Windows phone user right now... at least until this news. A lack of banking app would have been the death knell.
  • Not very quick with the news on this one, I posted about this in the forums 5 days ago and other Windows sites mentioned it on Monday.
  • That's was the tipping point for me! I ordered mate10pro the minute I received the sms from NatWest. Sad day 😔
  • Real shame. When I was a WM user I thought the NatWest app was actually better than the Android version. A good example of what developers could do if they put their minds to it and showed how good the UWP platform was compared to Android and iOS. Even apps written for specifically for Oreo still don't have the same features, fluidity and professional feeling that the better UWP and even Silverlight apps used to have. Sad days but I would imagine the users of the WM app are more than likely less than 1000 by now. I was thinking of grabbing a 930 in black/gold as a backup phone but as a heavy user of the NatWest app that's a no go now 😢
  • What about the recommended "online banking"?
  • Browser access is very fiddly on a phone and much slower to access as you can't use a simple passkey like you do with the app. You have to enter 3 digits from your password and 3 digits from your PIN (not the same as the app's passkey). Carrying out payments takes an age too.
  • Back in 2012 Microsoft announced a payment platform on Windowsphone. Nokia had put NFC into every flagship phone it had produced. Apple didn't have an NFC chip. Google Wallet was just becoming a thing. It was the moment Microsoft could have lept ahead with mobile payments and made Windowsphone relevant to daily life. However, Microsoft chose technology that required carriers to change SIM cards for secure SIMs. They didn't do it in software under their control. Also, the USA was in the slow lane on payment technology. That summer the London Olympic Park was a testbed for contactless payments using Visa. Four years later. After Apple nailed the Apple Pay brand and put NFC in every phone they had as an innovative feature. Microsoft released payments on the Lumia 950. It was the US only and a very limited subset of banks. Yet another series of missteps by Microsoft that led to banks leaving the platform for mobile technologies that people were using.
  • Windows phone is dead and is time to move on. As painful as it is, l have moved on to Android platform where you have all manners of apps to choose from. Good luck fans!