A product review of the LuSE mobile app

This review records my experience in October 2024. It was edited for clarity in November 2026 and is not a test of the current app.

I started using the LuSE mobile app to invest each month. The earlier app made buying shares and checking my portfolio straightforward. When that experience broke down, the problem went beyond interface design. It affected whether I could see my money, complete a trade or recover access to my account.

The transition between apps

The old app stopped updating my portfolio reliably and had persistent loading problems. I did not see an email explaining the change, though I may have missed one. Months later, I learnt about a replacement app during a LuSE Twitter Space and downloaded it.

My portfolio appeared in the new app, but some funds from my old wallet were not visible and my order history was missing. For a financial product, a migration needs to account for balances, transactions and account details, and make any unresolved differences clear to the customer.

Screenshots of the old and new apps are in the original article on LinkedIn.

Account details blocked a payment

The phone number carried over to my account was incorrect, and I could not find a way to edit it. That prevented me from using mobile money to deposit funds. I used the DPO card-payment option instead, which opened a browser page. I also could not find an in-app route to support.

A profile field had become a dependency for the payment journey. The product needed a secure way to correct it, plus a clear support route when self-service failed.

Broker selection stopped the trading journey

I had used Equity Capital Resources in the previous app. In the replacement app, selecting a broker returned “Unable to select a broker at this time.” That blocked me from trading. The message gave me no useful next step or expected time for a fix.

Payment status was unclear

It took me 13 attempts before a card payment was charged. I could not tell whether the failures came from LuSE, DPO or another part of the payment process. My bank confirmed the charge, but I did not receive confirmation from LuSE and the funds were still not visible the next day.

A customer needs to distinguish a failed payment from one that is pending or complete. Those states need a reference, a reconciliation process and a way to resolve a missing credit without repeated payment attempts.

Account recovery also failed

After an app update, I was logged out. My password was rejected, and five password-reset attempts produced no email, although the app said it had sent a link. I emailed support on Friday and received a reply on Monday. By Tuesday, when I wrote the original review, the issue was still unresolved.

What I would prioritise

I would start with the complete investor journey and its failure states. The release priorities would be:

• Reconcile migrated balances and history, and explain any unresolved differences.
• Restore account access and secure profile corrections.
• Verify that customers can select a broker and complete a trade.
• Show clear payment status and provide a route to resolve missing credits.
• Give support staff the context to track a case through to resolution.

These are product, engineering and operational responsibilities. I would test them together before a wider rollout and track completion rates, payment exceptions and unresolved support cases after launch. An investing app earns trust when people can complete the essential tasks and get help when something goes wrong.