APP REVIEW: Tayo Oviosu’s Paga app interface fine, but…

Technology, for a fact, has not only changed how we do business, it has overhauled how we keep money, access it and retrieve it.

Back in 2009, when fintech in Nigeria was still at an infant stage, a startup with a mission to drive financial inclusion made an entry into the market in the name of Paga.

In a West African country notoriously challenged with an unstable economy, 13 years down the road, how far has Paga come?

And, most importantly, how is its wallet-holder app doing in the market? Fine? Fair? Badly? Come, let’s dig.

In this review, we touched on the general use of the app after having a first-hand experience of the product, from downloading to registration, verification, and transaction.

Also, as part of this review, we sampled opinions of other users who have at a time or the other used the app.

What we know
Founded in 2009 by Tayo Oviosu, Paga runs with a mission to make sending and receiving of money seamless for users.

What’s more?
We saw how the startup has grown its interests to include facilitating purchase of data and airtime as well as paying for utility bills including satellite TV subscription, and power supply amongst others.

The App
A quick trip to Playstore. I use a Samsung device so I downloaded the App’s android version. Without issues. And, if you are in a location with good network reception, it shouldn’t take more can 60 seconds to download.

Starting off my review from Playstore won’t be bad. The size of the app, if you ask me, is really cool. I don’t have much problem with an app of 21MB size.

It is impressive to see that the app is verified by Google Play Protect, which means my phone is safe running the app. And that I don’t have to worry about security issues or that my phone may be hacked into by installing the Paga app.

A little skirmish from Playstore is a number of bad reviews from old users, citing instances where they were unable to upgrade their accounts seamlessly as promised by the Oviosu team.

By nature, these reviews will form the bases of my first impression but to be fair, however, I will stay open minded to see if my experience disabuses my mind. So, let’s go deeper.

Name, email, phone number and BVN
I cannot but appreciate the ease of registering on the app. Name, email, phone number and BVN. That’s all! I didn’t have to supply a long list of data.

Perhaps, the BVN (since it carries a user’s biometric and personal details) was just sufficient. I think that’s clever of the team. I will thumbs up to that. Let’s move on.

The dashboard
Right in front of me, my dashboard was ready. At the topmost part, I could see my newly registered paga account number and balance. I think the User Interface is cool and quite user friendly.

Right below it is a list of features of the app. Well spaced and can’t be missed. It is positioned at eye level. Features on the grid include “send money,” “request money,” “buy airtime,” “buy data,” “pay bill,” and two other features.

Following this layer is the space displaying linked accounts and debit cards. I tried linking my account, and it was successful. But I thought my account balance would sync automatically. I was wrong.

At this point, I was asking myself the essence of the app if it couldn’t sync my account after a successful linking. For me, that’s a thumbs down right there.

Buying airtime
To have a first-hand experience, I thought of purchasing airtime via the app. This way, I could observe the processing speed and app response. Also, it would help me answer few questions bugging my mind like why Paga if my GTBANK app could do virtually the listed features.

Read also: APP REVIEW: With a stolen phone number or fake email ID, you can sell/buy stolen items on Jiji

Funding my wallet
Into my new Paga account, I made a quick transfer from my GTBANK account. My first issue started here. The fund didn’t reflect instantly. In a tech age as this, time is everything.

I had to purse to see what I did wrongly. A few minutes later, I got the notification of the credit, checked to confirm, and it was right there. No more issues.

Topping up airtime
The next thing I tried was topping up my Airtel line. Unlike the delay I encountered with funding my wallet, topping up my phone line was faster.

Log out notification issues
The app automatically logs users out after 5 minutes of in-activity. While this is cool, and will go a long way to keep the Paga app secured, I find the notification disturbing and distracting. The log out security measure could happen without the notification. I think this is needless.

Friendliness
Not sure if friendliness is the right word here. But I think Paga is trying to impress its users with bonus offers. Why did I say this? After topping up my airtel line, I got an extra 2 naira to my account. Marketing strategy? Maybe.

A major downside
What I consider a major downside is the fact that transactions could be done without an authorization pin or password.

If the argument is that the initial password suffices, that’s a blunder. This leaves users open to risk. If it happens that my phone slips into the hands of a 3rd party before the 5-minute log out timestamp, my fund is no longer safe.

Paga may want to learn a thing or two from commercial banking apps. GTBANK and Firstbank, that I know of, work with a transaction pin to approve every missions.

Grading on a scale of 0-10
The Paga app gets a 7 rating score if you ask me. And, that, I think, is a fine score judging by my experience. Yes, I believe the team has done a good job with the app especially in areas of coordination and site architecture. The Paga app, however, can be a lot better fixing some of the highlighted issues.

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