IB Digital Security Card Expected Battery Life

[burggraben]

Whats the expected battery life of the Digital Security Card silver/gold? Would love to hear experiences how long it lasted. Please post how long it lasted after you received the card, and how often you turn it on (eg daily, once a week, etc).

Anybody got their card very recently? Is there a new design out with the new logo?

 

[burggraben]

NID Security are probably the guys making the card. They say 3 years or 15,000 usages. Source: https://www.nidsecurity.com/faq/

Does everybody have to wait for the card to run out of juice or does IB allow to replace it after 3 years or so, to ensure continuous operation?

 

[IndyJonerJr]

I'm not sure why you guys are using the card.. use the phone app, much easier

they requested mine back or a fee

 

[JSOP]

I'm not sure why you guys are using the card.. use the phone app, much easier

they requested mine back or a fee

Not everybody has a phone and phone app sucks. Unreliable and slow. Then again, that's IB with everything. Nothing new.

 

[burggraben]

I'm not sure why you guys are using the card.. use the phone app, much easier

One reason: Out-of-band authentication gives you an additional layer of security.

they requested mine back or a fee

I don't get it. You mean, they requested it back when the battery was empty? There is a 20 USD replacement fee I believe if you loose it.

 

[burggraben]

Not everybody has a phone and phone app sucks. Unreliable and slow. Then again, that's IB with everything. Nothing new.

I don't know anybody without a phone. I don't think the type of people trading stocks over the internet come in the no-phone-for-me variety.

The app works fine - it is probably just not as secure as the digital cards because a phone could potentially be hacked, while the digital cards can not.

 

[sprstpd]

Whats the expected battery life of the Digital Security Card silver/gold? Would love to hear experiences how long it lasted. Please post how long it lasted after you received the card, and how often you turn it on (eg daily, once a week, etc).

Anybody got their card very recently? Is there a new design out with the new logo?

I've had both the silver and gold cards and they both lasted about 5 years for me (two times a day use). I have a replacement gold card and the buttons are now "clicky" so that you can tell when you've pressed them (as opposed to the original card where the button feedback was non-existent). However, I now use the phone app most of the time. When my cards started to fail, they would show "LOW BATTERY" on the display. As I recall, IB did not want my cards back after the battery died. If your battery dies, you can get a temporary list of codes until you get a new one so no need to prematurely change devices.

 

[burggraben]

Thanks for that info sprstpd. I still have the original card with the non-clicky touch buttons. How old is that card with the clicky buttons? Are the button raised now or is it still flat like a credit card? Any other changes? I've read here somewhere a year ago that they plan to use a different LCD display on it?

I hate the gold design, but love the design of their their new credit card. I can't wait for them to release a new version with the new corporate identity. Weird that I care? Sure. Still do.

How do you guys keep the card secure? I don't want to just stick it in my wallet like a credit card and have it fall out. Interestingly the manufacturer website linked above says you can punch a hole in it in certain locations. This way it could be secured from accidental loss.

 

[burggraben]

Here is a video that shows the internals. So I guess the upper left would be a hole candidate. But hey, maybe IB uses a different version. Don't do this before talking to IB, you might punch a hole in the battery causing it to explode. The manufacturer website specifically says the safe spots for hole punching vary from model to model. So be cautious.

 

[eastern_warrior]

I have my gold card with the click button for a number of years already but don't recall. I would guess at least 3+. Still works well when needed and it fits well in my wallet. These days though I almost exclusively use the IBKEY which is great. Don't know why JSOP thinks it is slow but my key pops up on my iphoneX immediately after entering my password. I look at the phone and I'm logged in to the TWS on my computer or account management w/o doing anything further. Ditto for when using mobile apps. I personally find myself logging into account management and the TWS more often as I don't have to have the card handy or have to type response codes.