When was the last time you emptied your pockets at the checkout? In Switzerland many people still do — and they prefer notes and coins to a glowing screen.
A fresh survey from the Swiss National Bank found that mobile payment apps such as Twint and Apple Pay accounted for just 17% of in-person transactions in 2025, slipping from 18% the year before. Debit cards remain the daily workhorse (37% of purchases) and cash held steady at 30%. The poll also shows broad public backing for keeping banknotes in circulation — only about 2% of respondents want to abolish cash.
Why cash still matters in Switzerland
The reasons are as practical as they are cultural. Privacy sits near the top. Many Swiss like the anonymity of handing over a note without creating a digital trail — a point payments researcher Marcel Stadelmann of Zurich University of Applied Sciences has made several times. People talk about control and ritual: paying with cash feels tangible and final in a way a tap on a phone sometimes does not.
The COVID years nudged some consumers toward digital channels, but they also raised awareness about privacy and data footprints. That sensitivity shows up in unexpected corners — from consumer payment choices to the interest in hardware shields and platform-level security. Device makers have started to foreground on-device privacy (consider the buzz around Galaxy S26's privacy screen), and platforms keep shipping security patches to close browser and app vulnerabilities (for example the recent Background Security fix). Those moves resonate with users who worry about leaving electronic traces of everyday spending.
Why mobile-pay growth has stalled
The survey suggests a classic saturation problem: most people who want mobile payments already have them, so growth slows unless there is a clear reason to switch from cards or cash. Stadelmann notes that a trigger would be something tangible — faster settlement, clearer budgeting feedback, or convenience that actually changes behaviour.
Merchants and banks have rolled out apps and digital wallets, but incentives are uneven. If paying with an app doesn't make the experience materially quicker or cheaper, or doesn't help users manage money better in real time, the psychological and tactile advantages of cash and the familiarity of debit cards keep winning.
What could tilt the balance?
Here are the practical nudges that might matter:
- Instant payments and real-time spending alerts that give users immediate control and a sense of where their money is going.
- Merchant incentives — discounts or loyalty rewards for digital payments that actually offset the perceived losses (privacy, control, habit).
- Better integration between wallets and personal finance tools so a tap also equals budgeting help.
Regulation and public policy could also play a role. The SNB’s decision to commission designers for the next generation of banknotes, intended to enter circulation in the 2030s, is a symbolic and practical reminder that cash remains part of the national payments architecture for the foreseeable future.
For now, Switzerland’s payments landscape looks like a careful balance: modern rails and mobile apps exist and are widely available, but they haven’t yet displaced the convenience, anonymity, and cultural comfort of cash. People will keep their phones — and their coins — close at hand.
