Citibank released version 6.0 of its smartphone app on Monday. As the version number indicates, it is a major app update, with a complete overhaul of the user interface. A look at the new app is at left.

Most notably, the app incorporates the Facebook innovation that pulls navigation options from off screen, making the best use of the real estate on a small screen. However, this navigational item includes no transaction capabilities, limiting its usefulness.

The app also utilizes a feature allowing the checking of deposit and even credit card balances without logging in, which is a first for a major bank in the U.S.

Melissa Stevens, Citi’s managing director of internet & mobile, has been hard at work on the launch of the app, which, the bank says, features a “cleaner, sleeker design, easy navigation and alerts on the the go.”

Reviewers of the app on Apple’s iTunes app store, normally a cantankerous bunch when it comes to banking apps, have given the app a fairly positive response. One user, who gives the app four stars, says the app’s “look and feel has much improved,” while another, who gives just one star,  laments that he can no longer paste his password into the login screen. This is a security feature, of course, and a feature rather than a bug. A user on Google Play complains he is unable to log in and gives the app one star — but this may be user error.