Hello NCLapper
Welcome to the SBB Community.
Firstly, please kindly note, we are a customer support page run by volunteers; we are not the SBB Customer Service.
Secondly, it would be very helpful if you name the product you have purchased correctly, since there are multiple products named similarly, yet our advice will be different according to the product you have purchased. I assume you are a tourist, and you have purchased the Swiss Half Fare Card for tourists.
Thirdly, tourists do never have a customer number, there is nothing to link. The SwissPass, however, is where resident travel cards are stored on, and this can be solely linked to the app.
The Swiss Half Fare Card can still be viewed in the app, BUT it is displayed like a ticket and not as a travel card for residents. Working as a ticket inspector, I check hundreds of Swiss Half Care Cards every day, in the app. The Swiss Half Care Card is displayed in the SBB Mobile app, provided you have purchased it as a registered user while being logged-in. So my question here is, are you certain that you have indeed been logged in during the purchase? Can you still verify that while viewing the Swiss Half Fare Card in the order history when you log in to sbb.ch > Login? If you can see it among your order history, then you should definitely be able to see it in your SBB Mobile app as well, provided you are logged in with the same user.
Otherwise, it is totally fine to present the Swiss Half Fare Card as PDF document from your phone. Nobody said, you have to carry paper. Simply bring your physical passport, or government identity card with you whenever you use e-tickets. Otherwise, they are not valid. Paper copies, pictures of your passport / ID card on your smartphone are not accepted.
I am beyond frustrated with how complex this is to link my purchase to both my SBB website account and the SBB app.I am very computer/IT/app literate but perhaps the translation is causing complexities.
It is not complex at all; there are millions of tourists every year that successfully use the SBB Mobile app. You will see how easy it is, once you understand its functioning and you are used to it.
By the way, if you want to purchase tickets at half fare, you still have to make the appropriate settings in the app. Please see the instructions I have given here:
https://community.sbb.ch/d/26418-how-can-i-save-the-info-of-swiss-half-fare-card/2
So once again: make sure you can see the cards in your account, then we can narrow down the issue if needed.
Kind regards,
Roland