Apple Pay Apple Pay in Germany

[JepGambardella]

This morning I created a bunq account. What struck me was the fact that bunq helped me set up Apple Pay. They also helped adjusting the region settings. With a few clicks on both my iPhone and Apple Watch, Apple Pay was activated.

At N26 you can also activate Apple Pay, but then you have to request a new card and then in-app change your address details to an address from France. It works, but does not go as smoothly as with bunq. The fact that bunq gives the Dutch access to Apple Pay also amazes me; it is not only very easy, but they also give instructions.

I do not think that this means Apple Pay is coming. I hope so. I hope more that this shows the other banks and Apple that the enthusiasm for Apple Pay is there.

 

[MLVC]

Do you have a source for this statement?

I called them. So really, no viable source. Although I do think the technical side at the banks has been ready for quite some time.

 

[Karma_isA_8itch]

So as far as i can tell Apple really did block the workaround. Some people I’ve been talking to living in NL confirmed that they upgraded to Premium and did not get the virtuell Meastro for Apple Pay. Some other guy told me that Apple blocked the possibility to change region on iPhones of NL users. Personally I can only say that my Apple Pay Maestro is still active and in place. No idea though how long this is gonna keep working.

 

[PR1985]

I called them. So really, no viable source. Although I do think the technical side at the banks has been ready for quite some time.

Strange or sunny was right about problems at MC. It´s becoming ridiculous lately, IMHO

 

[MLVC]

So as far as i can tell Apple really did block the workaround. Some people I’ve been talking to living in NL confirmed that they upgraded to Premium and did not get the virtuell Meastro for Apple Pay. Some other guy told me that Apple blocked the possibility to change region on iPhones of NL users. Personally I can only say that my Apple Pay Maestro is still active and in place. No idea though how long this is gonna keep working.

So far it still works for me, I got there on time. My partner was too late though. I can still change my region, that is not blocked. The option is gone from the Bunq app since about 12:30 this afternoon. We'll see with the next app update if they will remove Apple Pay entirely for users outside Spain and Italy.

Thing that does annoy me is that Bunq is now putting the blame at users, while they were actively promoting the workaround.

 

[nordmaler]

either apple or the banks are ignoring willingly customers wishes...

we do create workarounds, apple or the banks blocking these workarounds ...

we ask apple and the banks when we are able to use applepay, no comment from both sides.

i mean this is not the way they should behave with customers...

 

[cieoqn]

either apple or the banks are ignoring willingly customers wishes...

we do create workarounds, apple or the banks blocking these workarounds ...

we ask apple and the banks when we are able to use applepay, no comment from both sides.

i mean this is not the way they should behave with customers...

Due to their contracts with Apple, the banks are not allowed to make any comment. The only company we can listen to is Apple....

 

[Karma_isA_8itch]

What I dont get Boon. is offering the same workaround for years and Apple didnt bother. Why now? Well, if they force Bunq to remove Apple Pay for non Spain/Italy residents I'll just switch over to my android and use tap & pay. Bunq is great anyway. But seeing how Apple is trying to block us out from Apple Pay makes me believe that THEY dont want Apple Pay here. There are more than enough banks that would love to start Apple Pay but Apple seems not to be moving. Sad but true.

 

[Tobsen]

Has anyone tested if Boon ist still

What I dont get Boon. is offering the same workaround for years and Apple didnt bother. Why now? Well, if they force Bunq to remove Apple Pay for non Spain/Italy residents I'll just switch over to my android and use tap & pay. Bunq is great anyway. But seeing how Apple is trying to block us out from Apple Pay makes me believe that THEY dont want Apple Pay here. There are more than enough banks that would love to start Apple Pay but Apple seems not to be moving. Sad but true.

Simple answer: boon. is a french or irish Mastercard. Bunq used a german or dutch card.

 

[MLVC]

Has anyone tested if Boon ist still


Simple answer: boon. is a french or irish Mastercard. Bunq used a german or dutch card.

Boon still works. Bunq also still works for me, as I got there on time.

 

[4254126]

Does anyone have bunq set up but didn't get there in time? Some are reporting that adding the card via a region change to Italy now works again. I cancelled my account yesterday so I'm not able to try it.

 

[MLVC]

Does anyone have bunq set up but didn't get there in time? Some are reporting that adding the card via a region change to Italy now works again. I cancelled my account yesterday so I'm not able to try it.

Apparently you'll run into the ID issue, anyway that's what I read on Dutch sites. Let's see if my partner deleted everything, or just the Premium part. He was too late yesterday. He did cancel Premium, so not sure if he's willing to try.
[doublepost=1521723210][/doublepost]

Does anyone have bunq set up but didn't get there in time? Some are reporting that adding the card via a region change to Italy now works again. I cancelled my account yesterday so I'm not able to try it.

Where are you reading those rumors?

 

[4254126]

Apparently you'll run into the ID issue, anyway that's what I read on Dutch sites. Let's see if my partner deleted everything, or just the Premium part. He was too late yesterday. He did cancel Premium, so not sure if he's willing to try.
[doublepost=1521723210][/doublepost]

Where are you reading those rumors?

I read a couple of people on Twitter (although I don't speak Dutch so used the Twitter Dutch-English translation )

 

[MLVC]

I read a couple of people on Twitter (although I don't speak Dutch so used the Twitter Dutch-English translation )

Care to give me a link? Can't find them (and my partner is in meetings so he's like "no I'm not doing that now".

 

[4254126]

I don't have time to sift through my Twitter timeline again, but I read them this morning on #bunq or #applepay!

EDIT: It seems like the Tweet got deleted, I can't find it any more...
[doublepost=1521726979][/doublepost]To add to that: I think anyone who has any doubts should sign up for boon as soon as possible, who knows how long that backdoor will remain open.

Also: Hopefully by the end of the year we'll all have Apple Pay working with our respective German banks anyway and we can all admire our Sparkasse, Volksbank, Deutsche Bank, Postbank, ING, N26, bunq, DKB, boon and whatever cards right in the Wallet app. Oh, and all with the region set to "Germany"!

 

[MLVC]

I don't have time to sift through my Twitter timeline again, but I read them this morning on #bunq or #applepay!

EDIT: It seems like the Tweet got deleted, I can't find it any more...
[doublepost=1521726979][/doublepost]To add to that: I think anyone who has any doubts should sign up for boon as soon as possible, who knows how long that backdoor will remain open.

Also: Hopefully by the end of the year we'll all have Apple Pay working with our respective German banks anyway and we can all admire our Sparkasse, Volksbank, Deutsche Bank, Postbank, ING, N26, bunq, DKB, boon and whatever cards right in the Wallet app. Oh, and all with the region set to "Germany"!

Boon. uses a different workaround though, as you get an Irish/French etc card, instead of the Dutch card of Bunq.

Had the Italy rumor checked, and it's not working either.

 

[4254126]

Boon. uses a different workaround though, as you get an Irish/French etc card, instead of the Dutch card of Bunq.

Had the Italy rumor checked, and it's not working either.

Ok thanks for checking. So that rumour is now also (sorry), de-bunq-ed.

 

[docfred]

Hmm. If you search the web for numbers and statistics, Apple Pay is still no big deal on the market. Even in the US. About 10% of the iPhone users are said to have registered with Apple Pay and about 2.5-3.0% of the payments are done by Apple Pay. Three years after launch.

Not very impressive. And corresponds with an article of Business Insider this week, telling that the usage rate of Apple Pay is rather low in the US.

Wondering how many people are using it in other markets. Possibly just Apple Die Hard Fans.

 

[kkrdvc]

Hmm. If you search the web for numbers and statistics, Apple Pay is still no big deal on the market. Even in the US. About 10% of the iPhone users are said to have registered with Apple Pay and about 2.5-3.0% of the payments are done by Apple Pay. Three years after launch.

Not very impressive. And corresponds with an article of Business Insider this week, telling that the usage rate of Apple Pay is rather low in the US.

Wondering how many people are using it in other markets. Possibly just Apple Die Hard Fans.

Actually, when it comes to Apple Pay, US is a peculiar market because it’s rather an exception than a rule that it’s usage is low there.

The reason for such a low usage is that most card terminals in the US don’t even support CHIP+PIN payments, but rather default to swiping the card, not even mentioning contactless support.
A lot of larger merchants went out of their way to block Apple Pay that they blocked other nfc payment solutions, including Android Pay and contactless cards even though they had the support before Apple Pay launched and all because they didn’t want Apple to compete with their own mobile payment apps (e.g. Walmart Pay). Another reason is the anonimisation of card details when using mobile nfc payment solutions. Because Apple Pay uses a different token for every payment, merchants cannot track your spending habits (places where you shop) based on your card number.


I think the best example of a successful Apple Pay launch is in the UK, where 90% of all card terminals support Apple Pay/contactless and where the adoption is much higher and much more known to average iPhone users.


The actual reason for the „failure“ of Apple Pay in the US is the unwillingness of their banks to get with the times and adopt more modern and secure payment technologies, best example being chips on credit cards. Up until 2013, it was normal for banks to issue chipless cards.
The lack of security is also why credit card fraud is a huge issue in the US and almost non-existent in the rest of the world. Magstripe cards can be copied without any issues, chips not so much.

 

[Mr-Fly]

.....

The actual reason for the „failure“ of Apple Pay in the US is the unwillingness of their banks to get with the times and adopt more modern and secure payment technologies, best example being chips on credit cards. Up until 2013, it was normal for banks to issue chipless cards.
The lack of security is also why credit card fraud is a huge issue in the US and almost non-existent in the rest of the world. Magstripe cards can be copied without any issues, chips not so much.

America was never a good state for modern banking. When I lived there beginning of 2000 people where still writing checks every month for all the bills.
Credit cards are actually quite old and yes, they use a lot of swipe terminals. Also they nearly never use their bank account for any contracts rather they use their credit cards, which means you have to always be sure that the data is still correct. Americans hate direct bank transfers and usuall ignore that possibility.
Something like "Lastschrift" nearly not exists.

 

[docfred]

Sorry, but if it comes to Europe the arguments are nearly the same. Banks are old, USA are more modern and so on.

Apple says „nearly all of American banks“ and „half of the local market“ support Apple Pay.

So the low adoption rate must have another reason than your explanation. Or Apple lies.

 

[Mr-Fly]

Sorry, but if it comes to Europe the arguments are nearly the same. Banks are old, USA are more modern and so on.
....
So the low adoption rate must have another reason than your explanation. Or Apple lies.

I do believe that there is a difference between they support and the people use. Direct money transfers have been available for a long time, but the adoption rate in the US is slow. Also automatic withdrawal (like Lastschrift) is actually available by nearly every bank, but Americans don't like that somebody else takes money of their account. The same is for Creditcard which usually work a totally different scheme then in Europe, the customer has to "send" the money to the credit Card Company to balance while in Europe the major theme is to have the credit card balance be deducted from your bank account once a month.
I just wanted to point out, that the payment and bank market in the US is just a lot different than in Europe.

 

[docfred]

I do believe that there is a difference between they support and the people use.

That's my point. The service is available since nearly three years in the US, the vast majority of banks support it and half of the local market and a lot of online stores. But still nobody seems to use it in reality.

So... is there neither demand nor need for this service? Perhaps that's on point, why the expansion seems to stumble. Other markets and banks know this better than we do.

I just wanted to point out, that the payment and bank market in the US is just a lot different than in Europe.

That's what I say since the start of Apple Pay


It more and more seems like Apple Pay is just a big hype in the circles of Apple Fans but has no meaning at all in the real world?

 

[Mr-Fly]

....

It more and more seems like Apple Pay is just a big hype in the circles of Apple Fans but has no meaning at all in the real world?

The security for bank transfers was never common in the US, that's why they have so many credit card frauds. Also Americans seem not to be interested in which shops track them how, they use all kind of membership, discount clubs or whatever.
They often overload their credit card into their limit, as they don't track their balance.
Apple Pay is in my eyes a more secure and anonymous way of paying and that's why store owners often don't want it, as they all track their customers.
As said, totally different market in the US.
And why I love Apple Pay: it is in my eyes way more secure (data can not be read without Touch-ID or Face-ID and not be scanned like NFC cards with a simple Android phone and an App), more anonymous and the transaction numbers cannot be stolen (had it a couple of times after US visits that I got a call from my bank: you did not order stuff from Taiwan, Australia and Brazil today, did you? Where credit card data has been copied)

 

[Karma_isA_8itch]

Just some random information for those who care about the Apple „field trip“ next week in Chicago. Apple will hold that event at 17.00 Central European Time. But there will not be a livestream. They will release a video of that event later on though. So I guess this event really and only is about and for teachers and students.