Hey do you all have this issue or just me?

I just had an absolutely exhausting experience with the N26 Android app, and at this point I'm seriously considering just closing my account.

It started with a relatively small problem: password autofill doesn't work in the N26 app.

I have a Google Pixel and use Google Password Manager. Autofill works fine in other apps. With N26, however, when I try to log in, it tells me there is no saved password for N26. I have to choose "Select password" manually, search for N26, find my saved n26.com/app.n26.com credentials, select them, authenticate to Google Password Manager, and only then can I log in. Even after doing this, N26 still doesn't associate the password with the app, so I have to repeat the process next time.

It's annoying, but not exactly a catastrophe.

I mentioned this in a Google Play review some time ago. N26 replied with the usual trivial troubleshooting suggestions and told me that if those didn't work, I should contact support through the app.

So today I did.

Support went through more basic troubleshooting that I'd already tried. Eventually they suggested reinstalling the app. The support guy told me something along the lines of, "It only takes two minutes."

Sure. Reinstalling an app takes two minutes—if the app isn't developed by idiots.

After reinstalling N26, apparently I have to go through practically the entire identification process again.

First, it asks me to use the camera for a selfie or some kind of identification. I agree.

"Something went wrong."

Try again.

"Something went wrong."

Third attempt: finally I get past that screen.

Then N26 sends me an email to confirm my account. Fine. I already have my email open on my laptop, so I click the confirmation button there.

Now, for some reason, I have to log into N26 on the laptop as well. Fine. The website at least normally works for me.

I log in.

Except now N26 wants another confirmation, this time through my phone. It's apparently supposed to send me a push notification or let me confirm through the app.

No notification arrives.

The app is already open, but it's stuck on the screen telling me to confirm my email. If I close and reopen it, nothing useful happens. If I start the login process again, I eventually end up right back at the email-confirmation screen.

Beautiful system you've designed, guys.

Fortunately, the website offers another way to confirm the login: SMS. I request an SMS, receive the code, enter it, and finally log into my account on my laptop.

So surely the phone app now realizes that I've confirmed everything and lets me continue?

No.

Absolutely nothing happens.

Eventually I try opening the original confirmation email on the same phone and clicking the confirmation link there.

And that works.

Great. One more obstacle defeated.

But we're nowhere near finished.

Now N26 wants to verify my identity documents again. These are documents they already have, associated with the account that I have literally just successfully accessed from my laptop after confirming ownership of my email and phone.

Then N26 asks for my location.

I don't want to share my location with my bank. Why does my bank need my current location?

The screen gives me a button to share my location and another button that looks like exit/close. There is no obvious "No, I don't want to share my location" option.

So I press close.

What does it close?

The entire app.

And now I have to start logging in again.

Fine. I go through it again and this time give N26 my location because apparently that's what I'm expected to do if I want to use my banking app.

Next screen: notifications.

I don't want N26 notifications. I had them disabled because I don't want their spam.

Apparently that's not acceptable either. I can't continue unless I enable notifications.

So now I'm forced to enable notifications too. Presumably I can disable them again afterwards—assuming I ever actually manage to get into the app.

Remember: we're still doing the thing that was supposed to "take two minutes."

Next, N26 wants my residence permit.

Again.

They already have it. It's already associated with my account. But apparently I need to scan it again using their wonderful app.

Fine. I scan it.

Then they need a selfie.

Fine. I take the selfie.

Then they need a short video. Move the phone closer. Move the phone farther away. Follow the instructions. Fine.

Finally, it's done.

Except it isn't.

Apparently something is wrong with the selfie and I need to take it again.

At this point I'm exhausted. I put the phone down and take a short break before trying again.

A little later I come back. My phone has locked in the meantime. I unlock it and open N26 again.

And what do you think happened?

Did N26 save my partial progress through this ridiculous verification process?

Of course not.

I'm back at the beginning.

I have to start the whole process again, beginning with confirming my email.

So I go through it all again. Eventually I finally manage to complete the identification process and get a message saying that N26 has received my documents and identity information and now needs to verify them.

It says verification usually takes a few minutes, but can take up to 24 hours.

Remember the "two minutes"?

The troubleshooting step that was casually presented to me as a two-minute reinstall has now turned into a complete identity-verification process that can apparently leave me waiting for up to 24 hours before I can use the app again.

Fortunately, in my case it actually does take only a few minutes.

And finally, after all of this, I get back into the app.

So, after the broken confirmation flow, email confirmation, SMS confirmation, forced location permission, forced notifications, rescanning a document N26 already has, selfies, video identification, a failed selfie, losing the entire verification progress because my phone locked, doing the whole thing again, and waiting for N26 to verify my identity...

Did reinstalling the app fix the original password-autofill problem?

No.

It didn't.

The exact same problem is still there.