How to pair or unpair my smartphone to my account?

To use your N26 account, you need one of the following smartphones:

• iPhone 8 or newer, with at least iOS 16 installed
• An Android smartphone, with Android 9.0 or newer installed

Note that some manufacturers are banned from using Android and Google services. Even if the operating system on their smartphones is based on Android (such as Amazon Fire, Oxygen OS, etc.) they might not be compatible with the N26 app. Always check with the manufacturer.

Remember: you can only pair one smartphone per N26 account.

You'll need to pair your smartphone when you create an N26 account for the first time or when you get a new device.

If your phone number has changed and you have a new sim-card but you’re still using the same smartphone, there is no need to pair your device. You can refer to this article to update your phone number.

In some cases, we may have to carry out some additional checks to ensure that the person requesting the pairing of a new device is the account owner. For this reason, the waiting time of this process might be a little longer than usual. Please keep in mind that during this period, your N26 card remains active, and you'll also be able to access your WebApp to check the status of your account, by simply requesting an authentication code via SMS when logging in.

Remember that if you change your SIM card but keep using the same smartphone, you don’t need to pair or unpair your device.

1. On your new smartphone, login to the N26 app with your email and password: a “Verify your login” screen will appear with a warning before receiving the login code by SMS. Press “Continue”
2. Confirm your login with the code you just received by SMS
3. The “Pair the phone” screen will show: press “Continue”. A reminder of what is needed will appear:
   • Access to your email from this device,
   • Your confirmation PIN,
   • Mobile data reception to receive the SMS
4. Press “Pair device now”
5. Do not close the N26 app and switch to your email client. Open the email you just received from us and click the “Confirm” link towards the end of the email
6. You will be redirected to the N26 app: click on “Continue”
7. You will receive a new 4-digit code by SMS: enter it in the N26 app. When you receive the SMS with the code, remember not to close the N26 app or the verification will fail.
8. Enter your Confirmation PIN

Your new smartphone is paired to your account. If you want to log in faster, you can activate the “Biometric Authentication” in the N26 app: tap on your initials → Settings → Security → Log in faster.

1. On your new smartphone, login to the N26 app with your email and password. You will receive a 6-digit code by SMS to authorize the login.
2. Once logged in your N26 app, tap on your initials at the top right hand corner.
3. Under Settings → Security, choose “Pair a new device” and follow the steps.
4. You will receive an SMS with a 4-digit code for pairing the smartphone to the account: enter it in the N26 app.
5. Enter your Confirmation PIN when prompted.

Your new smartphone is paired to your account. If you want to log in faster, you can activate the “Biometric Authentication” in the N26 app: go to your initials → Settings → Security → Log in faster.

If you have a new phone number and no access to your old paired smartphone, you can still pair your new device via our fallback process:

1. Log into your N26 app with your email address & password, and request an SMS login confirmation code.
2. When the app is asking for the SMS code, it should list your phone number at the top with some *** covering part of your number, at the bottom of this screen please tap “This phone number is not correct” and follow the steps. 
3. To complete the process, you will need:
   • Access to your registered email address. We'll send you an email confirmation link, you must be able to open this link from the same device
   • Within the app, you will need to take a photo and short video to upload to us

If you've opened your account in Germany, or your ID document is only supported via video verification, you will also need to take a photo of your ID document. You can check the required form of verification for your ID via the lists on this page.

Once the pairing documents have been submitted you should receive the result within 20 minutes during business hours. If you submit outside business hours, then it can take up to 12 hours to receive the result.

After your pairing is completed successfully, you can refer to this article to update your phone number.

If you unpair your phone, you'll need to re-pair a new phone to be able to enjoy N26 to the fullest.

1. Login to the N26 app
2. Tap on your initials at the top right hand corner
3. Under Settings → Security, choose “Unpair phone” and follow the steps
4. Enter your Confirmation PIN when prompted

Your phone and your N26 account are no longer paired.

1. Click https://app.n26.com/login (new tab) to open the WebApp
2. Click on My Account in the upper right corner
3. Under Settings, click on Security
4. Click on “Unpair Phone” and follow the steps
5. Enter your Confirmation PIN when prompted

Your phone and your N26 account are no longer paired.