App Review: TD Ameritrade Mobile [SLIDESHOW]

Equity investors with quick trigger fingers beware: stock buying just got a bit easier.

TD Ameritrade has added a new feature to its smartphone apps called Snapstock. The add-on lets users scan barcodes of their favorite goods to find out which company makes the product; then, if the manufacturer is traded publicly, it gives the user an opportunity to buy stock in that company.

“Investors tend to use our mobile trading platforms more for opening transactions than for closing ones,” explained Nicole Sherrod, managing director of TD Ameritrade’s Trader Group, in a release announcing the new feature. “Because of this fact, we sought to integrate innovative new features which help support our investors’ desire to always be on the lookout for investment opportunities no matter where they are.”

To test this new feature, I downloaded TD Ameritrade’s app on my own iPhone and took it for a spin, taking screenshots along the way to provide a visual guide; that slideshow is included immediately below. At the end, I’ll put a “price” on the app — between one and five “PYMNTS bucks” — to help you decide whether or not to grab it for your own smartphone.

1. Downloading the app

An issue with Step One doesn’t bode well for the rest of the review, but at least there’s time to recover. The problem: when one searches for TD Ameritrade Mobile on the App Store, two nearly identical apps are returned, both named “TD Ameritrade Mobile.”

The two top results are distinguishable in terms of software developer: the top result was made by Etermax, while the second is attributed to TD Ameritrade Mobile LLC. You’d think the one made by TD is the official version — but you’d be wrong! In fact, the Etermax version is the app you want. Confusing, right?

TD Ameritrade has done well to get the version it wants you to download into the top spot in the search results, but it’s still really confusing to see another app with the same name — made by TD Ameritrade! — one spot down. This needs to be resolved.

2. Opening the app

Once you’ve got the right app downloaded, opening it takes you to a login page that’s sort of clunky, but does the job. I also appreciate the fact that the app offers a “delayed quotes” version for users without a TD account; in fact, that’s the portal I chose for giving Snapstock a try.

3. Finding the feature

Once you get past the login page, you’re taken to TD Ameritrade’s “Quotes” tab. For registered users, this is a place where you can easily keep an eye on your favorite stocks (similar to the Stocks app that’s been pre-loaded into every iPhone ever made).

When I was brought to the Quotes page, the app then immediately produced a pop-up notification directing my attention to the camera button in the top left section of the Quotes page, and explained the app’s newest feature, Snapstock. I can’t imagine a more effective method for driving use of the new add-on.

4. Using Snapstock

It took some skill to document this part of the app experience with photos — fortunately, it seems I have developed enough dexterity over the past several years to be able to push down two buttons on the iPhone at the same time.

And fortunately for the user, in cases where you’re not trying to take screenshots while using the app, Snapstock’s barcode scanner is very easy to use. I scanned several items easily, holding the item in one hand and my iPhone in the other while standing up. (Admittedly I may have above-average hand stability from having spent so much time honing my athletic ability on Wii Sports.)

5. Finding the company

In this example, I scanned the box for Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac, and the app quickly identified the manufacturer as Microsoft. From there, I chose to “View quote detail.”

6. The quote page: should I buy?

The quote page is robust. In the top right, there’s an option to “Trade Me” for the particular stock being viewed with the app. I clicked that next.

7. Buying stock

The actual purchase page is pretty robust as well, offering multiple investment strategies like options purchases, buying to cover, etc.

8. Summary

Pros: The newest feature in TD Ameritrade’s smartphone app gets pretty much full credit in the most important category of any gadget review: doing what it says it will do. Snapstock is easy to find, easy to use, and effective at executing its promise of identifying the companies behind our favorite products.

Cons: A significant negative against the app is apparent right away, when searching for the app by name yields two results that look nearly identical. TD Ameritrade should remove the version of the app it doesn’t want customers using.

There’s another issue that might have serious security implications: there’s not an obvious logout option once you’ve logged in. I was able to finagle a solution myself; after logging in, I clicked “log in” again while leaving the password field blank. That seemed to do the trick, but no doubt a more obvious solution should be included in a future update.

Verdict: From a forest-from-the-trees perspective, being able to quickly buy stock in companies that make the products we love may not necessarily be a game changing opportunity for regular equity traders. (At least one App Store review makes a similar point.) With that in mind, perhaps Snapstock is more useful as a research tool.

That said, the app does what it says it will do, and in this reviewer’s opinion, does so effectively and efficiently.

Rating: $$$ (3 out of 5 PYMNTS bucks)