Leaving XE Currency
XE has been the default for so long that most people never reconsider it. Its own reviews suggest more of them are starting to.
XE is a serious company with genuinely good exchange-rate data, and for years its app was the obvious recommendation. If you mainly want reliable rates, charts and a money-transfer service attached to the same account, it remains a reasonable choice and this page is not going to pretend otherwise.
What XE still does better
- Rate history and charts. If you want to see where a currency has been over months or years, XE does that and RoamRate does not.
- Money transfer. XE will actually move money internationally. RoamRate is a converter — it has no opinion about your bank.
- Breadth. Precious metals, obscure pairs, a web version, an Android app. RoamRate is iPhone-only and deliberately narrow.
If any of those matter to you, stay where you are.
What people are actually complaining about
Read the recent reviews and the same themes repeat. Advertising is the loudest: users describe full-screen ads and, memorably, ad banners with install buttons sitting over the keypad, so a mis-tap while entering a number opens the App Store instead. Several report the app becoming unreliable without a connection — a converter that stops converting the moment the signal drops, even when it has perfectly usable rates already stored on the device.
Neither is a bug in the ordinary sense. They are what happens when an app is funded by impressions and built to talk to a server first.
The comparison
| XE Currency | RoamRate | |
|---|---|---|
| Ads | Yes, unless you pay to remove them | None, ever — there is no ad network in the app |
| Business model | Advertising, subscription, money transfer | One payment of $4.99 |
| Offline | Users report it becoming unreliable without a connection | Offline-first; no network call before the keypad |
| Rate history & charts | Yes | No |
| Money transfer | Yes | No |
| One-handed keypad | Standard layout | Built for a thumb, with haptics |
| Local price context | No | Local Price Index |
| Account required | For some features | None — there is nothing to sign up to |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, web | iPhone only |
Who should switch
Move if you open a converter to answer one question, quickly, often while standing up — and you have started resenting the ads or the wait. Stay if you use the charts, the transfer service, or need it on Android.
And if you only convert occasionally, do neither: your iPhone's Calculator already converts currency for free, offline. We would rather tell you that than sell you something you do not need.
A converter with nothing between you and the number
No ads, no account, no subscription. Free for five major currencies, $4.99 once for all 150+.
Download on the App Store