Apple Pay Goes Live for Sparkasse and Commerzbank Customers in Germany - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Apple Pay Goes Live for Sparkasse and Commerzbank Customers in Germany

by

Apple Pay came to two additional big banks in Germany today, bringing the digital payment platform to millions more people in the country just over a year since it launched there.

sparkasse apple pay germany
As of this morning, customers of both Sparkasse and Commerzbank can add their Visa and Mastercard credit cards to the Wallet app. The Sparkassen-Karte Basis debit card is also compatible, but support for the Sparkasse giro card is coming later, sometime in 2020.

Apple's mobile payment system allows users to make contactless payments for goods and services in retail stores using their iPhone or Apple Watch.

‌Apple Pay‌ made its long-awaited debut in Germany back in December 2018 with multiple partners immediately jumping on board, but support from Sparkasse and Commerzebank was conspicuously absent on rollout day. The two banks previously said in June 2019 that ‌Apple Pay‌ support was coming later in the year.


Apple CEO Tim Cook said in March that ‌Apple Pay‌ would be available in more than 40 countries and regions by the end of 2019. ‌Apple Pay‌ first launched in the United States in October 2014. You can view the full list of ‌Apple Pay‌ countries and regions on Apple's website.

(Via Macerkopf.de)

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: Germany
Related Forum: Apple Music, Apple Pay/Card, iCloud, Fitness+

Popular Stories

imac video apple feature

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...
Read Full Article
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
Read Full Article • 80 comments
ios 26 4 pastel

iOS 26.4: Top 10 New Features Coming to Your iPhone

Friday March 20, 2026 2:44 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 isn't the major update with new Siri features that we hoped for, but there are some useful quality of life improvements, and a little bit of fun with an AI playlist generator and new emoji characters. Playlist Playground - Apple Music has a Playlist Playground option that lets you generate playlists from text-based descriptions. You can include moods, feelings, activities, or...
Read Full Article • 51 comments

Top Rated Comments

RickDEGH Avatar
RickDEGH
82 months ago

It's useless anyway since you can't even pay by card in most stores in Germany. They are still living in 1990.
Most stores? Come on, man! I live in small city of about 75,000 inhabitants and I use Apple Pay (not even talking of the popular girocard) for most shops and things I buy, except at some Bäckerei, Döner joints, some restaurants and small shops. The situation could be better, but it is not as bleak as you make it seem.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FischerPlötz Avatar
FischerPlötz
82 months ago

It's useless anyway since you can't even pay by card in most stores in Germany. They are still living in 1990.
“EC” works almost everywhere. Maybe you’re still living in 1990. Kidding aside and certainly no offense, I have a much different experience here in Germany and use my Apple Pay with my Deutsche Bank. Just never thought Sparkasse would go this route.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chfilm Avatar
chfilm
82 months ago

It's useless anyway since you can't even pay by card in most stores in Germany. They are still living in 1990.
Also have to disagree, it's getting better - but what's really annoying that especially smaller gastronomy places / hipster cafés and certain restaurants simply refuse to accept cards. Probably money laundering going on, I have no other explanation for it really.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
J
Jandalf
82 months ago

It's useless anyway since you can't even pay by card in most stores in Germany. They are still living in 1990.
Not true -anymore- from my POV. I‘m close to leaving my wallet at home and only take my phone.... but that’s for Berlin, rural areas may differ...
But you’re right that we still always drag behind... happy that most Apple releases make it in Germany at the same time as in the US by now...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iPhysicist Avatar
iPhysicist
82 months ago

Most stores? Come on, man! I live in small city of about 75,000 inhabitants and I use Apple Pay (not even talking of the popular girocard) for most shops and things I buy, except at some Bäckerei, Döner joints, some restaurants and small shops. The situation could be better, but it is not as bleak as you make it seem.
Bakeries will even grunge at Bank notes. They love hard coins.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
N
nicho
82 months ago

@chfilm I have an explanation: costs. I had no explanation until yesterday. Ask our friends, who have shops or checkout the costs at SumUP.
A middle-ground explanation would be taxation. I dunno about the German tax system, but in the UK this was definitely a factor behind certain types of restaurants being very slow on the uptake of card payments compared to other businesses. Much easier to turn a profit when you're paying your workers cash in hand on income that you don't declare or pay tax on.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments
Related Apple News: South Africa | Opinion | World News | News | Politics