Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union's newly updated Android applets members do what they most commonly do with the greatest ofease through its always-on, always-updated account balance featurethat lives on the Android home screen.

That means that, at a quick glance, a member can find outexactly where he or she stands financially. No login required.

Vertifi, a subsidiary of Eastern Corporate Credit Union inBurlington, Mass., developed the app for the $5.6 billion RBFCU inLive Oak, Texas.

“The most common query our members make is for their accountbalances,” said Mary O'Rourke, chief information officer at RBFCU,in a prepared statement. “We receive thousands of requests dailythrough our online and automated voice response systems.

“The auto-updating widget provides this information to the userwithout having to log in to the full app. Only a couple of verylarge national banks have introduced a similar feature, and RBFCUis the first credit union to use Android's home screen widgettechnology to provide this capability.”

Alan Bernstein, Vertifi president, said in a statement, “Thewidget lives on the home screen of the device, alongside otherwidgets the user might install for seeing the time, weather, news,sports scores, or any other timely information.

“Its refresh capabilities are very flexible inasmuch as balancescan be updated on demand, either by the user or by RBFCU sending a'push notification.' Users have the option of disabling the widgetaltogether, and also customizing its refresh frequency.”

RBFCU indicated that a check balance feature for Apple mobiledevice users also will be available soon.