We’re now in the era of eWallets and it’s no stranger that many people do not carry cash with them anymore since most places already accept cashless transactions.
Heck, even when we go to night markets, some stalls also have eWallet scans.
One very popular eWallet app in Malaysia would be Touch ‘n Go eWallet. It’s widely used by many since the app can link credits to your own Touch ‘n Go cards and also provides many offers and discounts to users.
But it seems like the app has been mysteriously removed from the Apple App Store which resulted in many to be concern as they can’t download nor use the features of the app.
Android users right now.
For those of you who know, TNG came out with a new enhance card which features a NFC top up feature recently and some are speculating that it was the reason behind why the app was removed. In the EU, it was reported that they had found Apple blocking the iPhone’s NFC feature for other eWallets for payments as anticompetitive.
Is the app able to use NFC to reload respective TNG cards?
For short, yes, the app is allowed to be used to reload TNG cards, but the NFC feature definitely isn’t the reason behind the removal of the app from the Apple app store. One of the few reasons is because:
1) NFC is used to reload physical cards and not make direct payments at merchants (such as the debit/credit card link)
2) Apple’s NFC feature has been around for a while now and it’s also used in other countries such as Hong Kong’s Octopus card.
The NFC feature is available for iPhone 7 and above and those using the Octopus app will go through similar steps as TNG before they can register their cards in the app.
Suspicion towards GoPinjam scheme
Another thing that may of lead their suspension from the Apple app store is the recent GoPinjam feature where users can apply for personal loans offered by Touch ‘n Go. Users can borrow up to RM10,000 with repayments up to 12 months and interest rates are set between 8% to 36% per annum depending on how much loan you applied for. The loan scheme is offered in partnership with CIMB Bank under their EZI-Tunai.
This could be one possibility towards violating Apple’s App Store guidelines as well.
Under Guideline 3.2.1 (viii) of the App Store Review Guidelines requires that any app offering financial services must be submitted by the financial institution performing such services. Therefore, apps that offer loan or credit applications from multiple third-party financial institutions cannot be made available on the App Store.
Touch ‘n Go Digital is partially owned by CIMB but the app could be seen entirely different from the actual CIMB Bank finance app itself which has their own set of terms and conditions before it’s allowed to be used widely on the Apple app store.
As of now, Touch ‘n Go has not release a statement on why their app was removed from the app store. Worry not though, if you already have the app installed, you can still use app’s features. But in the case of you needing to install new apps after getting a fresh new phone, well we wish you good luck.
Ini je touch n go comment regarding this issue. No official statement released from them pic.twitter.com/Ra4NpCLJVt
— 梦源自那次你看我的一眼 (@khdjhamrdn) May 8, 2022
Hopefully Touch ‘n Go will release a statement soon over this issue. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in he comments!
*Sources: Visual and Reference Credits to Social Media, Soya Cincau, Touch ‘n Go, TRP & various cross references for context.
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