Here's what didn't work, why the IO app crashed and when we can finally use the payment methods to get cashback
After 48 hours of inefficiency and a flood of controversy in newspapers and social networks, the IO app team apologizes on Facebook and explains what didn't work. Or rather: what is still not working, because the problems with the cashback app are still going on today.
According to IO, everything depends on the very high influx of users that sent the computer systems into a state of tilt, making it impossible for many users (most of them, as we'll see in a moment) to register payment methods (here is the list of cards compatible with cashback), to enter the IBAN to receive the refund up to 150 euros and, in general, to use the app in a normal way. The IO team itself, however, confirms that the problems have not yet been resolved but "mitigated". That's a fancy way of saying that some people have managed to use the app, but the majority have not. Here's why.
App IO: the numbers of the tilt
The IO app downloads exceeded 7.9 million and 2.3 million were active users between December 7 and 8. There are about 2.3 million payment instruments registered in the Wallet section of the app, the one that gave the most problems.
More than one user, on Twitter, points out that if the app downloads are almost 8 million while the payment instruments are just over 2 million, it means that there are more than 5 million users to whom the app has forfeited.
In reality, this is not the case, because one user could have two IO apps on two phones and, more importantly, because each user could have registered multiple cards on the same app. La cosa più probabile, in realtà, è che gli utenti che sono riusciti realmente a far funzionare l’app siano persino meno di 2 milioni.
Il motivo dei problemi, spiega IO, è stato l’eccessivo numero di accessi contemporanei: 14 mila operazioni al secondo nella sezione Portafoglio.
App IO si scusa, ma sul Web è “Crashback"
Sulla pagina Facebook IO, l’app dei servizi pubblici, è apparso ieri un messaggio di scuse: “Nella giornata di avvio del #Cashback, il traffico su #IOapp si conferma molto intenso per l’enorme volume di richieste nella sezione Portafoglio. Questo sta arrecando alcuni disagi, di cui ci scusiamo, ai cittadini che non sono ancora riusciti a completare l’attivazione del Cashback o ad aggiungere i loro strumenti di pagamento“.
Poi viene spiegato che “I cittadini che hanno attivato i loro strumenti di pagamento per il Cashback su IO, possono iniziare ad acquistare cumulando transazioni per ottenere il rimborso. As indicated in the app, transactions will be counted from midnight of the day following the activation of Cashback".
This last one is an important clarification: if we register and enable a payment card today, in fact, purchases valid for cashback purposes will only be those made from midnight tomorrow. Many users hadn't read this in the FAQ and are complaining about it on social.
In the meantime, the average sentiment on the Web has gone from initial anger to resignation and State Cashback has become "State Crashback".
Irony and official apologies aside, though, App IO isn't working today either.