Handling delayed or unclear balance data in Ionic apps (real-world finance use case)

I’m working on a small Ionic app (Angular + Capacitor) that pulls account and card balance data from an external source and displays it to the user in a simple dashboard. The technical part is fine, but I keep running into a practical problem that I’m not sure how others handle cleanly.

In the real world, balance data isn’t always instant or reliable. For example, I personally use a salary card in the UAE (FAB prepaid), and there are times when the balance hasn’t updated yet, or it’s not possible to confirm it remotely without visiting a branch. That kind of uncertainty is exactly what users complain about when they open an app and don’t trust what they’re seeing.

From an Ionic UX and state-handling perspective, what’s the best way to represent this kind of situation without misleading users? Things like:

  • balance fetched but possibly not settled yet

  • balance temporarily unavailable

  • last confirmed amount vs current estimate

I’m posting here because this forum usually has people who understand practical, real-world tech problems, not just theory, and I’m interested in how others model and communicate this kind of ambiguity inside Ionic apps without overcomplicating the UI.

Would appreciate hearing how you’ve handled similar cases in production apps, especially financial or utility-style apps.

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From my experience as a user using banking apps (really just banking in general), banks will have your current actual balance that is settled with a date (as of 2026-01-26) and another pending balance that includes any transactions that are pending. Then any pending transactions will have “Pending” next to them or be in a separate pending section.

For your Ionic app, show the last confirmed balance clearly and mark any pending transactions as “Pending” or in a secondary section. Include a timestamp for the last update, and display “Balance temporarily unavailable” if it can’t be fetched. Users can also check their actual FAB balance anytime through the FAB mobile app in the UAE for full accuracy.