Charles Stanley Direct vs Will Protect
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Charles Stanley Direct
Manage your investments and financial future with a low-cost trading platform. Open various investment accounts, track portfolio performance in real-time, and access important documents securely. Get support from a dedicated client services team.
- Open Stocks & Shares ISA, SIPP, and Investment Accounts
- Manage all accounts and investments in one place
- Trade stocks, funds, ETFs, and investment trusts
- View real-time portfolio value and performance
- Access investment holding information
- Interactive performance graphs
- Secure client messaging
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With over 200 years’ experience, Charles Stanley is here to help you achieve your financial goals and create a secure financial future. Use our low-cost trading platform to manage your financial future and make investments online. Fast, flexible, secure. We are here to help you achieve your financial goals and create a secure financial future for you and your family. - Sign up to become a new client or open a new account, choosing to invest either using a Stocks & Shares ISA, Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP), Individual or Joint Investment Account or Junior ISA for your child. - Securely view and manage all your Charles Stanley accounts and investments in one place. - Build and manage your investment portfolio by trading in our extensive universe of stocks, funds, ETFs and investment trusts. - See your total portfolio value and its performance in real time. - A wealth of information is available about each holding such as value, sell price, change in value, cost, historic yield and fund size. - Interactive graphs show the performance of each investment over time. - Customise your information by filtering your holdings alphabetically, by value, sell price, change in value, or cost. - Pay money into your account. - Access all your important documents in one place. - Contact us with secure messaging from our supportive Client Services team. If you require further support, please contact our Client Services team on 0131 550 1234 or email info@charles-stanley-direct.co.uk (open 7.30am -5pm, Monday - Friday). At Charles Stanley, we are committed to improving your satisfaction by continually bringing new and improved capabilities to enhance your user experience. At the same time, we will ensure we maintain the app’s security for your peace of mind. Please note: The value of investments, and the income derived from them, can fall as well as rise. Investors may get back less than invested. Past performance is not a reliable guide to future returns. Charles Stanley Direct is a trading name of Raymond James Wealth Management Limited, which is a member of the London Stock Exchange, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is part of the Raymond James Financial, Inc. group of companies. Raymond James Wealth Management Limited is registered in England No. 1903304. Registered office: Ropemaker Place, 25 Ropemaker Street, London EC2Y 9LY. VAT number: GB 524732945.
Will Protect
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Record details of properties, pensions, investments, bank accounts, insurance policies etc, to maintain your asset portfolio. Categorise your assets, describe them, record account details, assign values and define the ownership—all within the secure Legacy Portal app. Once you have recorded your assets, it’s easy to update the values and see the total of your overall portfolio. You can keep a history of the updates too. If you choose, you can share your asset data securely with your partner, your family and trusted advisors. This makes light work of listing your assets so that a financial advisor or will writer, for example, can help with recommendations and guidance. Legacy Portal —easy, safe & secure.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Charles Stanley Direct at every 5 weeks against Will Protect's every 9 months. Will Protect's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Charles Stanley Direct ships an update every 5 weeks, Will Protect every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Charles Stanley Direct | Will Protect |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (6 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 25.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks — better | Every 9 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 57 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Charles Stanley & Co. Limited | Start Software |
Bugs and requests
Charles Stanley Direct
Reported bugs
98 issues- Wonky pricing info
- Creaky trading platform
- App throws error messages constantly
- Missing basic functionality
- Stock issues
Show 93 moreShow fewer
- App wipes login credentials every time it updates
- Login credentials are not saved in passwords
- App hangs on loading data
- App no longer allows sign in
- Presented with a spinning wheel
- Error: 'something went wrong try again later'
- App no longer functions
- Won't get beyond face recognition
- Rotation option in the app no longer works
- Inconsistent reporting of stock changes
- No way to pay in or withdraw money in the app
- Buy/sell functionality is very hard to discover
- Getting clear analytics is impossible
- Login details incorrect even when correct
- Can't see price changes without drilling into each holding
- Phone app log on not working again
- Glitchy app
- Biometrics don't work
- Two factor authentication triggered on every sign in
- Asks to set up a new PIN on every sign in
- All dividend info gone
- App does not have facial recognition
- Does not accept password valid on website
- Navigating away from the app immediately logs you out
- Search function takes a lifetime to load
- App is quite slow
- Asks for additional security managers
- Thumbprint question
- Information sometimes hard to get/slow to get hold of
- Drilling into each position, finding information is sometimes difficult
- Information sometimes not up-to-date or missing
- Hard to make a payment on the app
- Sends you off to your bank app to verify a transaction, then logs you out
- Transaction wiped after returning from bank app
- Impossible to pay money into the account using the app
- Lack of graphs
- Difficult to gauge portfolio performance over time
- Failing on performance over time visuals and breakdown
- Stuck on loading screen
- Last update has prevented access to my accounts
- Regular login issues (resolved)
- Major bugs have been fixed (past)
- Works alright at the moment (past)
- Passcode required again to sell quickly
- Time delay after entering code wrong
- Asks for passcode again after 3 quotes
- Unable to log in
- Repeatedly told to register the device again
- Does not work
- Some pages don’t load at all
- Login always fails via App
- App all of a sudden started displaying an error message saying I had no internet
- Requires you to reset your pin
- App tells you you’re not connected to the internet
- Uninstall, reinstall and go through faff of signing up
- Says there’s no internet when connected to wifi
- Cannot log in to the app
- Still says not connected to internet
- App regularly logs me out
- Says it can’t connect to the internet
- Constantly breaks and needs reinstalling
- Gets corrupted over and over again
- States you are not connected to the internet
- States there is no internet connection
- Requires app deletion and reinstall
- Often locks you out requiring full login process
- App says you’re not connected to the Internet
- Other apps seem happily connected
- Shutting app down and restarting doesn’t work
- Delete and reinstall to get it to work
- Repeatedly lists ‘Sorry you are not connected to the internet’
- Correct PIN numbers being rejected
- App informs you “You are not connected to the internet”
- Only way to solve is to delete the app and log back in
- Often fails to authenticate
- Saying it does not recognise your PIN
- Recently it has been saying it is not connected to the internet
- Often unavailable because of maintenance
- Touch ID constantly fails with a message ‘you must be connected to the internet’
- When working, can’t use app to deposit funds
- Repeatedly locks me out
- Issues with logging in
- Denied Face ID
- Not accepting my pin
- Having to go through process of a pin reset
- New one: don’t have an internet connection
- Real-time portfolio valuations missing
- Customising the portfolio view on the web should mirror app
- Having to log back into the app every time I return from another app
- Refuses to connect when not on wifi
- Not possible to view any performance charts
- Not possible to buy or sell
- Asking me if I want to use Touch ID when I open the app
Requested features
16 requests- Ability to see historical transactions
- Easier access to underlying fact sheets
- International dealing on platform and app
- Real-time portfolio valuations
- Customising portfolio view to mirror web
Show 11 moreShow fewer
- Allow international sharedealing without phone
- Chart overlay of all current holdings
- Watchlist on chart
- Automatic re-login based on time since last use
- Transfer cash between Charles Stanley and current account
- Better charts
- Performance charts for individual funds/shares/portfolio
- Ability to buy or sell
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- Stop loss method
Will Protect
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Charles Stanley Direct
No in-app purchases
Will Protect
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Charles Stanley Direct free?
Is Will Protect free?
Do Charles Stanley Direct or Will Protect have ads?
Which is updated more often, Charles Stanley Direct or Will Protect?
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