Finance apps, reviewed
Nothing on your phone deserves more scrutiny than the apps that move your money. Reviews in this section look at licensing and regulation, authentication options, fee transparency, and the data each finance app shares with third parties.
Cash App
Block's do-everything money app: fast peer-to-peer transfers, a side of bitcoin, and scam pitfalls worth understanding first.
Coinbase: Buy BTC, ETH & more
The mainstream on-ramp to crypto — custodial by default, pricier than it looks, and regulated more than most rivals.
Monzo Bank - Mobile Banking
A real UK bank with FSCS protection and the best built-in budgeting tools in British banking.
PayPal - Send, Shop, Manage
The veteran of online payments: broadly accepted, properly regulated, and still prone to freezing accounts first and asking questions later.
Revolut: Money & Investments
A polished multi-currency account with strong exchange rates, undermined by chat-only support and abrupt account locks.
Robinhood: Stocks & Crypto
The broker that made trading free — and made 'free' worth interrogating.
Venmo
Effortless payments between friends — once you set the feed to private and refuse to pay strangers.
Wise: International Transfers
Mid-market exchange rates with the fee shown upfront — from an e-money institution that is honest about not being a bank.