SBB Mobile is the one near-universal Swiss travel download. It plans journeys across trains, trams, buses and boats, and most tickets can be bought as a guest with a card, but the ticket or EasyRide check-in must exist before boarding. A Swiss Travel Pass bought without the same SwissPass login or through another seller may not appear in the app, so keep the original pass and ID available. Do not build a visitor payment plan around TWINT: TWINT Prepaid currently accepts only residents with Swiss, German, Austrian or Liechtenstein phone numbers and requires identity and address verification. Cards and contactless payments work in most visitor settings, while a small amount of CHF remains useful at remote huts, farm stalls and coin-operated facilities. Use MeteoSwiss for official forecasts and warnings, swisstopo for free official offline maps, and Rega or White Risk only for the outdoor activities they serve. Public transport is normally better than a car app; Uber is the broadest fallback and Bolt covers a smaller set of urban markets. For food delivery, start with Just Eat CH or its website, compare Uber Eats by exact address, and ignore stale Smood listings because Smood ceased operations on 30 April 2026. In an emergency call 112, 117, 118 or 144; an app never replaces the call.
No Swiss payment app is a sensible default download for an ordinary short-stay visitor.
Visa and Mastercard cards, debit cards and contactless wallets are accepted in most shops, hotels, restaurants and ticket machines. Carry a second card separately and keep a modest reserve of Swiss francs, preferably including small notes and coins, for remote mountain huts, unattended farm stalls, markets, public toilets or a temporary terminal failure. Switzerland uses CHF, not the euro. Some businesses accept euros but return change in francs, which is rarely the best exchange.
If a terminal offers home currency conversion, select CHF and let the card issuer perform the conversion unless the user has confirmed a better total. TWINT is widely used by residents and some small sellers accept only TWINT or cash, but that does not make it a visitor app. TWINT Prepaid currently limits registration to residents of Switzerland, Germany, Austria or Liechtenstein with a phone number from one of those countries, then requires identity and current-address verification that can take days. Remaining prepaid credit can only be transferred to a Swiss bank account in the same name.
A normal foreign visitor should use a card or cash instead of creating a resident-style wallet for one trip.
These apps need data
Guac eSIM covers Switzerland with plans from $0.58 per GB. Install it before you land and activate instantly.
How to Pay in Switzerland