What Is N26?

Put simply, N26 is the best online bank for most people.

N26 offers a host of great features, including:

• Free worldwide ATM withdrawals: Wherever you are in the world, N26 Black and N26 Metal members can withdraw from any ATM at the inter-bank exchange rate with zero fees, as if you’re still at home.
• Free international money transfers: Send an unlimited number of money transfers to friends, colleagues, suppliers, customers–all for free.
• An extremely powerful app: Toggle online payments and spending limits, reset your PIN, pay with Apple Pay and Google Pay, receive real-time transaction notifications, and a lot more–all in the N26 app.

N26 Black, N26’s premium account, and N26 Metal, its super-premium account, also come with an exceptional travel & medical insurance plan, which includes:

• Medical expenses up to an unlimited amount.
• Travel cancellation insurance up to €5,000 per trip.
• Flight and luggage delay insurance up to €400.
• Stolen cash insurance up to €500.
• Stolen mobile phone insurance up to €300.
• Extended warranty on purchases up to €500.

There’s a lot more to the N26 insurance policy than that–including why we recommend combining N26 with SafetyWing for the ultimate travel & medical insurance combination–but this gives you a good idea of what N26 is all about.

Now that you know the basics of N26, let’s dive deeper into how to create an N26 joint account.

Joint Accounts With N26

If one of the things you’re looking for from your N26 card is a joint account–one you can share with a spouse, business partner or someone else–you’ll be unhappy to hear that they have not yet released this feature.

Joint accounts are coming soon, though.

On November 7, 2018, N26 tweeted that joint accounts were “on our road map.” They didn’t give an exact timeline for the launch, though it’s widely expected that they will release shared account functionality at some point in the first half of 2019.

However, N26 is still the best bank for most people.

It’s the reason we’ve written reviews of N26 as a whole, its premium account N26 Black, its super-premium account N26 Metal, its highly impressive insurance policy, its account for freelancers and the self-employed, its stance on cryptocurrencies, its extinct promo codes, and much more.

So to accommodate the individuals and couples who really, really want a joint N26 account, we’ve designed a super simple workaround that thousands of people are using to make their N26 card even more powerful.

Are you ready?

The Workaround: Apple Pay & Google Pay

Apple Pay and Google Pay are mobile wallets that allow you to make purchases using your phone, smartwatch or computer. By connecting your N26 card to either of Apple Pay or Google Pay, you are linking your card to your devices. In a sense, you’re cloning your N26 card so that it can be used in multiple places at once.

In fact, you can add your N26 card to Apple Pay and Google Pay on many different devices. That means that whether you’re abroad or at home, using an Android or an Apple device, you can always pay with N26.

Here’s a case study to see how this looks in real life.

Case Study

Tom and Lena live and work in Berlin, Germany. Lena is a painter, and she’s been an N26 Metal member for over a year now. Tom is a wine importer, and he hasn’t yet joined N26. Let’s look at a typical Monday to see how each of them go about their day.

Tom & Lena: A Typical Monday

Lena meets a friend for coffee in the morning, goes shopping in the afternoon, and picks up a week’s worth of groceries on her way home. Everything Lena buys–her coffee and croissant, a new shirt that caught her eye in Kreuzberg, the bag of groceries, and tickets to ride the Berlin U-bahn (subway)–she pays for with her N26 Metal card through Apple Pay.

Meanwhile, Tom is in Barcelona on business. His routine is similar to Lena’s: he starts his day with a coffee by the beach, meets some friends for drinks after work, and then grabs a few groceries to cook a quiet dinner at his Airbnb. Everything Tom buys–his morning coffee, drinks for the boys, his groceries, and even the Airbnb he’s staying in–have all been paid with Lena’s N26 Metal card through Google Pay.

As you can see, both Tom and Lena can use Lena’s N26 Metal card without any issue. What’s even more impressive is that they’re doing it from two different countries and with two different services (Apple Pay for Lena, Google Pay for Tom). In other words, they’re getting exactly what you’d want from a joint account: easy, convenient spending where and when you want it.

Apple Pay & Google Pay Features

This chart shows how you can use Apple Pay and Google Pay with your N26 card:

N26 is still in the process of rolling out new geographies for Apple Pay and Google Pay, so these lists will continue to grow through 2019 and beyond.

Adding Your N26 Card To Apple Pay & Google Pay

All N26 transactions with both Apple Pay and Google Pay work just like normal card transactions. This means you’ll still receive transaction notifications in the N26 app, you can set limits on the card using the app, and all of the other features of your N26 card are still available, too.

Workaround #2: The Maestro Card

Though you can’t have two N26 accounts at the same time–such as an N26 Black account and an N26 Business account–you can get an N26 Maestro card with your account, which allows you to categorize your spending differently.

This is actually what N26 recommends for N26 Business users who want to make personal purchases on their card, and it sets the stage perfectly for a shared account, too. One of you gets the N26 bank card, and one of you gets the Maestro card. It’s as simple as that.

In Summary

The Apple Pay and Google Pay workaround for N26 joint accounts is not perfect. If you travel to a country where Apple Pay or Google Pay are not yet set up, or you visit a shop that doesn’t accept them, you won’t be able to use your N26 card. That’s where our second workaround–the N26 Maestro card–comes in. With these two options at your disposal, you shouldn’t have a problem, no matter where you are.

At the same time, N26 is making a push for launching shared accounts soon. To get notified as soon as they do, join our email list at the bottom of this post. We don’t send spam–just relevant, impactful information to make your financial life on the road easier and better.