Dears, I am unable to add my credit card to Apple Pay on my Apple Watch Series 8 45mm Cellullar ("Could Not Add Card"). Other cards and banks work OK. I have contacted the bank and they are stating I should check with you about "low device score of my Apple Watch".
Apple Watch Series 8 LTE 45mm, bank is AirPlus, it is a MasterCard company credit card, located in Germany.
Apple Watch Series 8, watchOS 10
VPN is what fraudsters use to hide their identity. It typically won’t interfere with Apple Pay transactions, they use NFC, not WiFi. But adding a card to Apple Wallet requires positive identification and VPN will hide some aspects.
Typically the VPN and related software needs to be deleted, not just disabled and Network Settings reset. If the software installed a profile in Settings > General > VPN & Device Management > delete any profiles related to VPN.
VPN is what fraudsters use to hide their identity. It typically won’t interfere with Apple Pay transactions, they use NFC, not WiFi. But adding a card to Apple Wallet requires positive identification and VPN will hide some aspects.
Typically the VPN and related software needs to be deleted, not just disabled and Network Settings reset. If the software installed a profile in Settings > General > VPN & Device Management > delete any profiles related to VPN.
This might be the issue. Some banks won’t verify the card and account owner if the region is different from issuing bank. The language can be whatever it needs to be for you to operate the device. I would contact Apple Support in your country and see if they can verify settings for you.
Do you use a VPN? That is a known issue and combined with the Region setting. A bank might not verify because of fraud risk.
The bank is German, are you currently in Germany? Is you Apple ID set for Germany? Are both your Apple Watch and iPhone set for Germany?
Are there other credit or debit cards in the Wallet app on your Apple Watch? Are you logged into your Apple ID on your Watch? Did you buy the watch new or what’s it’s ownership history?
Have you filed any fraud issues with your banks within the last year? Have you logged any of your devices lost or locked them via Apple Find My services?
There are several cards in Apple Pay on my Apple Watch from various banks (though, this is the first credit card, the others are debit cards). This card was, however, successfully added to my iPhone.
I am logged in to my Apple ID on my Watch.
I am the first owner of the watch, bought as new in Apple Store.
I have not done any of these things ever.
Those are good points! Let me check those because I do use VPN as well. I am just puzzled because of the fact I do have the same settings on my iPhone, where the card works fine.
Got it! I am traveling now, but I am back next week and will try if setting phone and watch region to Germany and removing VPN does the trick.
It sounds like we’ve got it figured out, but please let the community know how everything works out when you get back to Germany. Safe travels!
Those are good questions and I appreciate you trying to help!
My Apple ID is indeed German. I am in Germany. However, the region of my phone (and watch, which is set to mirror it) is not German as I am not native German and keep my phone in my native language. However, I can’t imagine this would make a difference as it does not cause any issue in the phone.
Unable to add credit card to Apple Watch
