Review of M1 Finance’ Mobile App
M1 Finance emphasizes simple Pie investing, and this focus on stripped-down money management definitely affects its mobile software.
M1 Finance’s iPhone App
For iPhone users, M1 Finance has an app on Apple’s App Store. It does require iOS 14.0 or later to run properly. The app can be downloaded in less than a minute free of charge. The software is pretty similar to the software M1 uses on its website. This means the tools are rather simple, although navigation is really easy.
Logging into the app is even easier thanks to Touch ID. Once inside, the app begins on the Home tab. The main menu is at the bottom of the screen. Besides Home, the other tabs are Invest, Borrow, Spend, and Research. We’ll look at all five of these selections now.
The Home screen is the app’s dashboard. It contains tiles of some of the other tabs we’ll look at shortly. There’s also a tile for M1’s credit card. Tapping on it produces a digital application for the card. There’s also information on the Home screen about M1’s upcoming cryptocurrency trading service.
At the bottom, there is a link to move funds in or out of an M1 account. It’s possible to set up direct deposit, transfer a brokerage account from another firm, establish recurring deposits, and turn on Smart Transfers between M1 accounts.
Next is the Invest tab. Here is where investment management takes place. A Pie can be adjusted by changing the percent allocations of the underlying holdings. It’s also possible to share a Pie.
The Borrow tab is where M1 Finance presents information on its unique margin service. Here, the app
displays the current margin rate (8%) and what the rules are.
Next is the Spend tab. Here, there are details on the company’s checking account, including a balance if the bank account is open. There is an ad for M1 Plus that describes the benefits of having a Plus subscription. These include cash back and a 3,3% APY for Plus members.
Finally, the Research tab delivers what is perhaps the best experience on the app: actual investment news and security research. News articles are presented on both specific securities and general market stories. They come with thumbnails and are provided from multiple news outlets. Examples include Reuters and Zacks Investment Research.
The top portion of the Research tab has a search bar where a company name or ticker symbol will produce a profile. There is also a Research main menu in the top-left corner (represented by three horizontal lines) where lists of securities will be found. These include stocks, funds, a watchlist, and M1-built Pies.
There is currently a tile on the Research tab for cryptocurrencies. It produces a list of cryptos with brief profiles. It’s not currently possible to add them to a Pie, although this will soon change.
M1 Finance customers seem to like the many features on this app. They grade it a 4.7 out of 5.0 on the App Store. There are more than 46,000 ratings, so this is a reliable score.
Users have commented on the app’s ability to purchase fractional shares of stocks. However, other M1 Finance clients have complained about the lack of customer support and the app’s inability to track performance thoroughly.
M1 Finance Promotion
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M1 Finance’s App for iPad
M1 Finance has not rolled out an app specifically for iPad. Its app is designed primarily for phones. The phone app may work on iPad with limited functionality.
M1 Finance on Mac and iPod Touch
M1 Finance’s app can work on an iPod touch, assuming it has iOS 14.0 or later. A Mac computer can run it as well, and this assumes the machine uses macOS 11.0 or better and has an Apple M1 chip or higher.
M1 Finance’s Android App
Although M1 Finance failed to deliver an app specifically for iPad, it does have an Android app. This
one, too, is designed for phones only. The app requires Android 6.0 or higher. It has been downloaded more than half a million times, so this is a very popular app.
Scores on Google Play are comparable to those we found on the App Store. Android users rate the app a 4.6 out of 5.0, although the score is composed by fewer reviewers (just 20,000 this time).
Some users have complained about the app’s reliability and news feeds. Other users have praised the software’s ease of use. Here are some examples of comments:
“The widget occasionally gets stuck and fails to sync - The news feed for any given stock or ETF may be pulling outdated articles”
“The app is easy to navigate. Unfortunately you'll be innundated with sales promotions and no way to turn them off.”
“Been using it for a couple years now, 0 issues with them.”
The Android app has the same tools the Apple app has. This means charting on either app is on a very low level. A graph can be displayed horizontally, although there are no tools of any kind.
A stock or ETF can be added to a portfolio, and this will trigger a buy order whenever M1 Finance sends orders to the exchanges. Unfortunately, there is no actual trade ticket on the app. Users add securities to Pies, and M1 sends orders in batches during trading windows.
The app’s settings menu will be found under the head-and-shoulders icon in the upper-right corner. This area has account documents in pdf format that can be downloaded or shared. The appearance of the app can be switched between light and dark, and the M1 Finance logo can be switched among a variety of color schemes. The security sub-menu has a widget to enable two-factor authentication.
While all of this is nice, what we really want to see on this app is a mobile check deposit tool. Unfortunately, it’s not there, although there are several transfer choices. The app would also benefit from streaming video news.
M1 Finance Promotion
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