Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Pay Apple Pay in Germany
- Thread starter 4254126
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Quite honestly, i wanted to try something new and if it works for me, move my main account away from Commerzbank. I ended up with them without any wish to do so to be honest. Had to have my account with the Bremer Bank which i used to finance my professional training (back then 165.000DM), which was a Dresdner Bank company and in the end ended up where i am now. Therefore i was not really tempted to join another part of that group.
That said, i can't even try to add any card to AP yet, but that might be just me.
As Apple Pay hasn't launched here yet, the only people who can try have set their regions to a country that has Apple Pay.
It is odd that the person can use the Mada card then.
EDIT: There are multiple tweets that the cards from at least one Bank in Saudi Arabia can currently be added to Wallet.
Is a launch imminent? Maybe. Hasn’t launched yet though.
Are you certain it is a SA-only bank and not a confusion with another Arabic country?
Just look at our little cheat sheet: https://smp-device-content.apple.com/static/region/v2/config.json
No AP Start in SA at the moment
No AP Start in SA at the moment
That’s really strange. There are multiple tweets, that show Saudi Arabian cards added to Apple Pay. But as far as I can see, the Json file hasn’t been updated....
If you can trust the twitter (Microsoft) translation, at least one of those guys was able to add the Saudi Arabian card, when his region was set to a supported Country.
Edit: damn, just as I replied, you wrote the same... ^^
Well they are +2 hours from Germany. Maybe the JSON output has SA in roughly 3 hours time. And we get DE 2 hours later? Apple launched BE and KZ on the same day, too. Pure speculation.
Could also be an oversight from the bank, just like Comdirect's T&Cs (although this is a huuuuuge oversight). We'll have to wait and see.
03:25, my eyes plopped open, first thing I do: check this thread. I need professional help.lol
The JSON file doesn’t have much to do with the ability to add cards.
It regulates access to Wallet and attached functions. Allowing certain cards through BIN numbers seems to go through other channels which I can’t tell... it’s plausible that you can add cards before the JSON file is updated. Some people on Twitter were able to add their card of a Czech bank a few weeks ago. Must have been a mistake in the BIN section opened up for testing.
It regulates access to Wallet and attached functions. Allowing certain cards through BIN numbers seems to go through other channels which I can’t tell... it’s plausible that you can add cards before the JSON file is updated. Some people on Twitter were able to add their card of a Czech bank a few weeks ago. Must have been a mistake in the BIN section opened up for testing.
And the Saudi cards have been deleted by the banks... seems there was an error 
Looks like next week then. But honestly: If it doesn't launch by Thursday next week, that's it for this year. I'm hoping for an early date. And if Ehssan turns out to be right
Looks like next week then. But honestly: If it doesn't launch by Thursday next week, that's it for this year. I'm hoping for an early date. And if Ehssan turns out to be right
I also think that the window for starting Apple Pay is closing... Next week or next year...
Well I think we have still two weeks to go. There is no reason why the week after next week is not "available". But I'm hoping for a launch on Tuesday next week too. Even so this Ehssan guy was wrong multiple times, he had a good run lately with his predictions.
Never in a million years. There is a freeze period for banks and they won't launch a new payment service a week before Xmas. Service departments are known to run on a minimum over the Christmas period and they wouldn't risk it. At least that's what people say who know how banks run internally. But even if it turns out that even that can be overridden by Apple, then who knows what to believe any more
But even so I'm looking forward to 2019 with regards to Apple Pay. DKB, SPK, more acceptance and hopefully places such as bakeries joining in on the action. Just stopped past a bakery in Tuebingen that has a SumUp terminal! The guy there asked me how I got Apple Pay running. I said "boon via Ireland" and he immediately laughed! He has an N26 account and said he was excited for the Apple Pay launch and was quite happy with the new account, but he was wondering when it was finally going to launch. He hoped it would launch soon after the announcement. I said "soon... hopefully... maybe...". Explained the boon. workaround for him as he wanted to use it as soon as possible and he said: "Geil! Dann habe ich für heute Abend schon mal was vor!"
When in the UK I often leave the house just with my phone and a backup card (as all banks support AP there), but when I'm in Germany things like bakeries and cafés / restaurants just stop me from living a cashless life. Sadly. But it's getting better (I remember a time when Aldi started accepting EC-cards and even that was an amazing development... that was when they still closed at 4pm on a Saturday and coming from a country that has 24hrs supermarkets I was blown away at how "backward" from my perspective good ol' Deutschland was back then. How times have changed, now you can pay with your Amex Platinum there
).
Last edited:
I would say next year. The timeframe for service starts might already be closed and at least some launch partners are in their frozen zone for changes for sure.
And nobody wants too much service calls this time before Christmas.