Apple Pay Launches in Spain for American Express and Banco de Santander Customers

Apple Pay today launched in Spain, marking the 13th country where the mobile wallet service is available for Apple customers. The news follows a report published yesterday by Spanish website Applesfera that said Apple Pay would launch in the country on December 1.

Today, Apple Pay's availability in Spain began through a partnership with Amex and Banco de Santander. Credit and debit cards issued by Carrefour and Ticket Restaurant are also accepted. The full list of Apple Pay retail partners and compatible apps can be found on Apple's Spanish website.

Apple Pay Santander Spain

Banco Santander today brings its customers Apple Pay, an easy, secure and private way to pay that’s fast and convenient. Santander is the first Spanish financial institution to offer Apple Pay to its customers. Redsys and Mastercard collaborated in the initiative. "Apple Pay shows we are committed to collaborate and to bring innovation and new technology to our customers to make their payments easier, faster and more secure," said Rami Aboukhair, country head of Santander Spain. "We are convinced our customers will love it."

At participating retailers, Apple Pay allows customers to pay for meals, clothes, groceries, and other items through a simple one-tap payment solution that uses existing NFC technology, and the service has slowly been adding additional retail partners since its launch in 2014. Apple Pay is also available within some apps, and is now available on the web in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra.

After today, Apple Pay is now available in the U.S., UK, China, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, France, Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Japan, and New Zealand. Most recently, Apple Pay launched in Japan with the support of the country's widely adopted FeliCa payments standard, meaning only iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and Apple Watch Series 2 models that are sold in the country can be used for Apple Pay transactions there.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: Spain

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
A18 Pro Chip

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options that include silver, blue, pink, and yellow. MacRumors...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
macbook air spacegray purple

Apple Planning to Launch Low-Cost MacBook Powered By iPhone Chip

Monday June 30, 2025 3:20 am PDT by
Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In an article published on X, Kuo explained that the device will feature a 13-inch display and the A18 Pro chip, making it the first Mac powered by an iPhone chip. The A18 Pro chip debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro last year. To date, all Apple silicon Macs have contained M-series...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
maxresdefault

Five Features Coming to AirPods Pro 3

Friday June 27, 2025 10:52 am PDT by
Apple hasn't updated the AirPods Pro since 2022, and the earbuds are due for a refresh. We're counting on a new model this year, and we've seen several hints of new AirPods tucked away in Apple's code. Rumors suggest that Apple has some exciting new features planned that will make it worthwhile to upgrade to the latest model. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Heal...
replay all time playlist apple music

Apple Music Debuts All-New Personalized Playlist

Monday June 30, 2025 7:16 am PDT by
As part of its 10-year celebrations of Apple Music, Apple today released an all-new personalized playlist that collates your entire listening history. The playlist, called "Replay All Time," expands on Apple Music's existing Replay features. Previously, users could only see their top songs for each individual calendar year that they've been subscribed to Apple Music, but now, Replay All...

Top Rated Comments

Morris Avatar
112 months ago
ApplePay has no geographical limitations and works anywhere in the world. If you can find a payment terminal that support contactless payments in Mongolia you can use ApplePay there. The only thing that matters is if your bank supports ApplePay and Apple is rolling the relationships with banks out country-by-country.

When they say "ApplePay has launched in Spain" they mean that ApplePay is now supported by (some) Spanish banks meaning that most Spaniards can now use ApplePay anywhere in the world. Someone with a UK debit card could already use ApplePay in Spain provided the payment terminal supports contactless payments.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Frederik on MacRumors Avatar
112 months ago
After having lived in Denmark for several years, I just feel annoyed about how payments are handled here in Germany. We are just so dated in how we handle this stuff... I would love to get Apple Pay!
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djcerla Avatar
112 months ago
Slowly, but surely, building domination in digital payments.

The potential user base for the technology overlaps nicely with iPhone's demographic.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JGRE Avatar
112 months ago
Looking forward to see this in the Netherlands. Today, however, I would be hungry as I left my iPhone at the charger at home and would not be able to buy my lunch :)
[doublepost=1480600594][/doublepost]
How funny! Literally no shop takes american express in Spain. Why does Apple Pay only get release in niches?
Because the big players perhaps are not looking for this right now, making Apple reach out to the small one's who think they might benefit from AP.
[doublepost=1480600760][/doublepost]
After having lived in Denmark for several years, I just feel annoyed about how payments are handled here in Germany. We are just so dated in how we handle this stuff... I would love to get Apple Pay!
Yes I know, I remember that in the 90th while e-banking was wide spread, German suppliers would favor a written check over an electronic payment.
[doublepost=1480601002][/doublepost]
Yes, I was in Berlin two weeks ago and was shocked at how hard it was to pay with a normal debit card at many places.

The UK is typically slow with these things, and was slow with card payments (or requiring a PIN for card payments!) too. But, and that is also typical for the UK, once it got accepted it suddenly went at breakneck speed. I think it's been months since I last had cash in my wallet (I am not kidding!).
What's that "Cash"????
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
patjem Avatar
112 months ago
I stopped using Apple Pay because the process is so inconsistent from place to place. One store will make me click an "accept button" one store will have the reader behind the counter, one store won't have any clue what Apple Pay is (even some that accept it had no idea what it was when I asked) It needs time to mature...like, a long time.
Sometimes you sign, sometimes you dip, sometimes you chip. Does that stop you from using a creditcard? Strange reason from stopping Apple Pay.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
neil_cm17 Avatar
112 months ago
I'm in the same boat! I'm so annoyed by the German's attitude of paying cash.
One idea here though: What if I had a Santander credit card (they're available here too) - can I use that for apple pay in Germany?mmmh
You wouldn't be able to use a Santander card issued by their German subsidiary. To use Apple Pay you need have a card that is issued within one of the supported countries.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)