Could this app be the answer to our ATM woes?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Getting cash from ATMs in the past year is pretty much an Olympic sport!

Between inflation causing prices to go up, resulting in more trips to the ATMs, plus all the troubles with Beryllium, it seemed like you could only get cash after you checked at least four ATMs. Never on the first try.

Well, it looks like one UWI graduate said enough is enough! Cue the ATM Finder Ja app.

So I first heard about this app from an article in the Observer. Computer Science grad Deandrew Moore created the app in two weeks.  It aims to provide the real-time status of ATMs near you.

ATM Finder uses the location services on your phone to show you the ATMs near you and their status; whether they’re working, not working or out of cash.

The information is crowd-sourced, meaning, when you go to the ATM, you can update the status of the machine.  If you’ve ever used the Waze app for navigation, you know what I mean.  

Pretty cool, right?

So instead of going to multiple ATMs only to discover that they aren’t working, the idea is that you can just check the app and that info will be right at your fingertips. 

Now ideally, the banks should be in on this too.  Because if someone marks an ATM as not working or out of cash, how would I know when it’s been fixed, since no one’s probably gonna go there.  Unless the banks themselves marked it as fixed in the app.  

So buy-in from the banks would be great!  Because there’s nothing more annoyingly frustrating than going to the ATM and it being out of service or out of cash.  

And with fewer people trusting the system due to numerous frauds being reported, it seems we’re moving in the opposite direction of a cashless society.

Now back to the app.  Each bank is colour-coded within the app, making them easy to identify. And it clearly says whether or not that particular ATM is working.

The app also gives you directions to the ATM. 

Now, this app is still very new.  It was launched just before the new year, so there are some growing pains and kinks to work out.  But big up to Deandrew Moore for coming up with the idea and actually following through to build the app.

ATM Finder is a community-driven app, meaning it relies on users actively contributing reports for the optimal experience. Once you click on a particular ATM, you’ll be able to see when was the last time somebody submitted data on it, whether it was a minute or a week ago.

The big issue with that is, that the app is still new and the network of people using it isn’t that big, so you may run into the problem of outdated info. Just because this ATM was working a week ago doesn’t mean it’s working now, when I wanna go.

Moore says he plans to boost the app’s marketing, setting up reminders at ATMs, service stations, supermarkets etc, prompting people to not only download the app but to submit reports.

He also said the app has a proximity limit and only allows updates within a certain radius of your location. You know, so that people don’t misuse the app, putting in information for an ATM in Portmore when they’re in Kingston. He also said he’s working on accessibility for visually impaired users. 

This app could be a big win for financial institutions. As Moore pointed out, banks having this live data on their machines can allow them to more accurately set up servicing schedules, which will improve customer satisfaction. 

And that’s the bottom line.