Uber in Berlin and Munich

Uber is trying to get a foot into the German market, but they cannot use the same business model as in the U.S. - any driver who offers commercial passenger transport needs a licence (for commercial transport), insurance etc. To my knowledge, you can use Uber to
* call a regular taxi whose driver has decided to install the Uber app. That is a small percentage of taxi drivers.
* call a "rental car" with a licenced driver, but without a taxi licence, who must not use taxi ranks (i.e. will have to wait further away from the airport than the regular taxis, and be more difficult to find), and must return back to the company after driving you. This may be marginally cheaper than a regular taxi, but quite cumbersome.
* call a luxury limousine, which will be more expensive than a regular taxi.

So, both in Berlin and in Munich, people will either use public transport (especially in Munich, where the airport is very far away from the city centre, making taxis expensive), or regular taxis waiting right outside the terminal buildings.

No Uber in Germany. There may be an app, but all you are getting is a regular taxi, so no savings.
Just use public transportation which is quick and affordable or a regular taxi, which will be more expensive.

I thought Uber was still banned in Germany since I had not kept up with the latest news...good!

Outside of the train stations in Berlin, ie Berlin Hbf, Berlin Ostbahnhof, and Bahnhof Zoo is a line of taxis, all parked one after another in the Taxi Stelle. I've use them a couple of times from Ostbahnhof and Hbf.

There is and was never a ban of Uber. Totally wrong view. Uber wanted to provide a non law-confirm business model which of course was and is still not welcome in Germany.

With UberX you can call limousine services which are not a real benefit to regular taxis. Tariffs are regulated by state and always metered. I would prefer Taxi apps in Germany or as mentioned public transport.

We tried to call Uber several times in Munich. They always tried to call as well and then there was the international call plus the language issue so we could not get it to work and they couldn't find where we were. We used taxis and some suggested the my taxi app. Also found it difficult to hail a taxi and when we walked to the train station after dinner to get a taxi no one would pick us up bc we didn't have luggage. Found out later that we should have asked the restaurant to call one for us (we didn't have the app then) If you end up taking a bus, make sure you know the end line of the one your hotel is on and not just the bus number so you don't go in the wrong direction on the right bus when you are returning. Maybe I did that, maybe I didn't.......

Your transport options from / to named airports in Germany.

Berlin:
TXL: https://www.berlin-airport.de/en/travellers-txl/to-and-from/index.php
SXF: https://www.berlin-airport.de/en/travellers-sxf/to-and-from/index.php

Munich:
https://www.munich-airport.com/transport-directions-260334

@ callen 510: Some tips around using taxis in Germany for your next trip.

1) You can walk into any restaurant / cafe or hotel and ask them to call a taxi.
2) German cities have central taxi calls. I suggest to search and save at least one number of a taxi call for a city you travel to. English speaking taxi call in Berlin is +49 30 20 20 21 220.
3) MyTaxi app is a good choice but you need connection. In Berlin every tube station (U-Bahn) and also cafes / hotels have free wifi. Also some more places.

Good luck for next trip.

when we walked to the train station after dinner to get a taxi no one would pick us up bc we didn't have luggage

I have to admit I don't understand that. Having luggage is not a requirement for taking a taxi :-) Did you try to stop a taxi on the street? Maybe they had passengers or were on their way to pick someone up? (Indicated by the taxi sign: If it is lit, then the taxi is available. Otherwise, it is busy. Stupid design, as you can only properly recognize this at night...). Or did you go to a taxi rank?

Thank you so much for sharing the information. We did not use Uber in Berlin or Vienna. The public transport was very convenient and on a few occasions, we just got a cab which was quite reasonable.