With store purchases and settling the bill now as easy as a few clicks on a smartphone, it is safe to say that the Swiss banking app Twint has taken the alpine nation by storm. After a muted start in 2015, the simple-to-use banking app now boasts 5 million members, the company confirmed on February 21.

More than half the Swiss population now use Twint

Speaking to Watson, Twint announced that seven years after its launch, the app has now reached the 5 million user mark. This means that, in theory, more than half the population of Switzerland now has the app downloaded on their mobile phones.

Twint was originally founded as an offshoot of Postfinance, the banking arm of the Swiss postal service, and was released across Switzerland in 2015. After a slow first few years, which saw only 800.000 active users by 2019, the app saw exponential growth during the COVID pandemic as shoppers switched from cash to contactless payments. The app reached 1,6 million active users by 2020, 2,8 million by 2021 and 4 million users by 2022. 

What is Twint?

The mobile app allows users to pay for items by scanning nodes on card terminals in Swiss supermarkets, and QR codes in smaller shops, and online and farm stores. Once scanned, users choose or are told what to pay, and then the transaction is completed at the touch of the button.

Users can also send and request money from their friends and family, perhaps for a shared dinner or gift, by using their phone number. Finally, through Twint+, people are able to use the app to pay for parking, benefit from store discounts and digital vouchers, withdraw cash from ATMs and buy gifts like experiences, short trips and holidays.

More than 386 million Twint transactions recorded in 2022

Today, more than 40 banks in Switzerland allow their customers to use Twint by linking their accounts to the app. According to their own figures, around 77 percent of physical stores and around 76 percent of online shops in Switzerland now accept Twint. The two most popular things to pay for with the app are supermarket shops and public transport tickets.

"In 2022, users of the Twint app twinted around 386.000.000 times. That is more than in all the years since the app was launched combined,” a spokesperson told Watson. Of those transactions, 65 percent were between users and stores, while 35 percent were between different users.

Thumb image courtesy of Twint