Prepaid reloadable debit cards have been slow to enter the smartphone app space. Many prepaid cards don’t even offer an app, and many that do have seen mixed reviews. It’s not uncommon for these apps to be buggy, in some cases simply failing to work.
We gathered user reviews of the iPhone versions of prepaid card apps. The results are quite stark. Both RushCard and Western Union prepaid cards were highly rated by users. In contrast, the Green Dot, Navy Federal, and PayPal MasterCard apps have been roundly criticized.
RushCard iPhone App
Overall User Rating: 4.8 (based on 61 reviews)
RushCard has some of the most loyal fans. Its iPhone app has an average rating near a perfect 5-stars. Here are what some of the users are saying about the app:
Alfani_23: “It’s nice to know how much is in your account and be able to save whatever you want. I also like the feature of transferring money between two accounts, just wish I didn’t have to pay.”
Neik0722: “Very easy to use and convenient! I like that I don’t have to call to check my balance.”
Shadysgirl66: If you have a Rush card then this app is mandatory. You can check balance and transactions. Always up to date. You can load your card and contact customer service. Also you save fees using the app. The app is user friendly easy to navigate. Worth it Worth it!! Thanks Rush for great job.
The one critical review had trouble getting the app to open after an update:
Beckyserr: “The app was working perfectly until the new update. Now it doesn’t open at all. It’s stuck on the opening screen.”
Key Features of the App
- Check your balance
- View transactions
- Transfer money
- Deposit checks
- Set up direct deposit
- Load cash
- Manage multiple cards
Get more details on the RushCard
Western Union iPhone App
Overall User Rating: 4.5 (based on 99 reviews)
Western Union has moved from a wire service into the prepaid card market. Because of its well recognized brand, the card has been well received. Although the app has a solid overall rating, some of the specific reviews were mixed:
Nightroad7 (5 stars): “It’s fixed now! I’ve tried this app in the past and it never worked for me. It was stuck asking for credit card confirmation or something like that, I don’t remember. But now all problems seem to be gone as far as I can see. I just used it and the app worked fine, with no glitches. It was quick, straightforward and easy. I was able to send money by repeating a previous transaction in my history in about 20 seconds.”
Tina (4 stars): “I used the app to send money to my son who took a short job out of state. The App has a Choose Country option, but no Choose State option. This resulted in the money being available thorium in his home state rather than in the state where he’s currently working, therefore he had to leave without getting his money. I had to call customer care to have them switch states. Please update the App to include ‘Choose State’.”
tenoch.xipilli (5 stars): They asked if I would leave a review after I sent some money, they were really polite about it. The flow was very easy. Registering, through their website, is a pretty long process. But once set up, the app made it super easy. I sent my crush some money in a few clicks.”
trixiesirisheyes (3 stars): “The last two transactions have required that I log in twice. And then when I’m getting ready to enter the email address to send the transaction to, up pops a Pop-up asking me to rate the app, blocking the area where I would change the email address. You really don’t want me to rate the app.”
Key Features of the App
- Send money
- Pay bills
- Get transaction details
- Find a Western Union agent
- Check balances
Green Dot App
Overall User Rating: 2.1 (based on 42 reviews)
While Green Dot as a prepaid card gets good ratings, its iPhone app doesn’t fare as well. Out of a total of 42 user ratings, 26 of them are just 1 star. Ouch! Here is a sample:
Turo (1 star): “Lotta bugs.”
Gearhead350 (1 star): “All I get is a call to service error notice, that’s it.”
Sherafoo (1 star): What use is this app if it will not save my password?”
LaserHead74 (1 star): “What good is this app if you can’t check your balance?”
SjSunryz (1 star): “After updating, I started out be getting locked out for 24 hours, and now I get the following: ‘ERROR! Call to service method has failed.’ The previous version worked just fine and would have gotten 4 stars from me. Whomever thought that this version was actually an ‘upgrade’ to it because the graphics were ‘prettier’, and released this broken app into the wild needs a swift boot the head.”
At least one 5 star rating is from a user who clearly doesn’t understand the star rating system: “Getting a error for the last two weeks please vix.” That said, here is one genuinely positive review:
Mcneemy74 (5 star): Green Dot Rocks, love the app. Very clean and simple to use. The upgrade is nice.”
This last review was dated April 3, 2015, so perhaps Green Dot has worked out the kinks in its new version.
Key Features of the App
- View available balance
- Find ATM and reload locations
- Check status of monthly charge waiver
- View transaction history
- Register and activate your card
Navy Federal Prepaid
Overall User Rating: 1.8 (based on 10 reviews)
Navy Federal is well known for excellent rates on mortgages, savings accounts, and even credit cards. What many don’t know is that it also offers a relatable prepaid cards. The card comes with a free iPhone App that has garnered less than stellar reviews.
Wallebj (5 stars): “No issues at all! They must have fixed previous bugs. Took less than 2 mins to create account and check my balance!”
Applestar (1 star): “I got as far as inputting the card info, creating a nickname and password. But by the time I was asked for the last 4 digits of my son, it just gave an error message ‘invalid password,’ even though it’s not even a password. This app has serious technical problems. If these aren’t fixed, who’s to know if the accountt info (balance and transactions) are even going to be accurate?”
Techbrute (1 star): “You can’t even enter your username into the long screen. You can’t add a card. You can’t do anything.”
Key Features of the App
- Check account balance
- View transactions
- Reload the card
PayPal Prepaid
Overall User Rating: 1.5 (based on 44 reviews)
This card is popular because of the heavy use of PayPal. While it’s not the only card that can be used to transfer funds to PayPal, it’s obviously the main goto option. Unfortunately, it’s iPhone app ranks dead last.
Dj21200 (1 star): “This app works maybe 20% of the time and that’s probably generous. When it works I suppose it’s ok. I wouldn’t know since I can rarely access the app. It usually sends me to a net spend login (never had one and wasn’t told I needed one) the one time today it worked it timed out literally after about 20 secs. This app is pretty useless and making me consider losing the card too. I love my paypal account but this mobile thing ain’t working. I usually wait till I have at least 4 bars LTE to even try and even then it just doesn’t work. Tried calling just service. No help there either. I’m using a iPhone 5s with latest software and this app isn’t useful to me at all. Uninstalling until an updated version is available.”
Mountaingirl67 (1 star): This app has major issues and apparently PayPal isn’t doing anything to fix it. Do you people read the reviews? I’m missing an entire week of transactions if I use the app. The website shows them, but the app doesn’t. I should also be able to load FROM the app, but nope! What’s the point. And the customer service agents are very under-trained. I get a different answer every time I call with the same question. They come up with their own answers without really knowing the real one.”
Justt_Batiistee (1 star): “I’m better off with bookmarking the web page to my phone to get the full effect. All I can do is check the balance history and reloading locations. There needs to be a money transfer feature, a customer service contact request, and much more. This app is pretty pointless unless it gets a MAJOR update unlike these bug fix updates.”
JustWhit (2 stars): “I have to agree with the consensus, this app is pointless without the option to transfer funds from my Paypal account to the card. Instant Transfer is the reason I applied for this card, why leave out such a key feature from the app? Just saying…”
On the positive side–
imtigger2 (5 stars): “Great app for quick ATM location or balance info. Perfect. To add via Paypal on iPhone, just use Safari and add a shortcut next to this one. I actually think that’s more secure. A better layer of protection of your Paypal and Bankco accounts.”
Key Features of the App
- Check your balance
- Get your recent transaction history
- Find reloading locations