N26
Ranked 5 of 5 neobanks by recommenders
People recommend N26 as a mobile-first German bank that works on rooted and custom Android setups, though critics cite past compliance problems, flaky logins and strict identity checks.
People recommend N26 as a mobile-first German bank that works on rooted and custom Android setups, though critics cite past compliance problems, flaky logins and strict identity checks.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Works on rooted and custom Android
“N26 also works fine on rooted devices. They don't randomly block devices like others”
Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “LineageOS 24” “Sandboxed Play Services handles most major apps fine, including N26 and Revolut”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple” “I understand N26 does, but it may work with Graphene”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “Around a dozen banking apps began specifically permitting GrapheneOS” - Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “LineageOS 24”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Flaky logins and unreliable app
“N26 is flaky (sometimes it just works for me, sometimes refuses to even log in; no idea what's wrong).”
Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “GrapheneOS has fixed the Android 17 QPR1 kernel performance regression” “they then told me I had to install their app to activate the account. Forget it.”
Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “LineageOS 24” Strict identity verification for new accounts
“won't let you create a new account on Graphene and will make you go through identity verification hell”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “Around a dozen banking apps began specifically permitting GrapheneOS” “will reject people without a residence permit (Aufenthaltserlaubnis, Blue Card, etc)”
Comment from 29 Aug 2026 in “Stripe said to abandon $50B pursuit of PayPal”
Other neobanks people recommend
The four most recommended other neobanks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury Bank | 44 | 8 | 85% | 11 | 5 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Revolut | 43 | 81 | 35% | 11 | 2 yrs3 owners | — |
| Monzo | 19 | 7 | 73% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Starling Bank | 10 | 9 | 53% | 4 | — | — |
| N26This page | 8 | 8 | 50% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
16 of the 18 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“won't let you create a new account on Graphene and will make you go through identity verification hell”
“I understand N26 does, but it may work with Graphene”
“they then told me I had to install their app to activate the account. Forget it.”
“It requires a sim card and cannot be used from multiple phones.”
“N26 also works fine on rooted devices. They don't randomly block devices like others”
“they work just fine in Graphene OS”
“N26 is flaky (sometimes it just works for me, sometimes refuses to even log in; no idea what's wrong).”
“the neobanks are arguably some of the best in the world”
“will reject people without a residence permit (Aufenthaltserlaubnis, Blue Card, etc)”
“They don't really follow the German laws that say that German residents can have bank accounts”
“they made it harder and harder to use with certain custom checks”
“it took me appx 1 day to switch to n26 and nothing of value was lost”
“German bank N26 was embroiled in money laundering, scams and other issues stemming from bad KYC for years”
“Sandboxed Play Services handles most major apps fine, including N26 and Revolut”
“They managed to build from scratch on relatively shoestring budgets their own implementation of a consumer bank”
“They are collectively known as "neobanks" for a reason.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.