- Apple Pay is Apple’s mobile payment service, which lets users with an iPhone 6 or newer, as well as Apple Watch owners, make payments using NFC with their devices. You can make payment with apple pay almost in 69 countries around the world in participating retail stores, apps, web on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. websites.
- As of 2019, Apple Payment has overtaken Starbucks to become the most popular mobile payment platform in the United States.
Features
- Enabled by NFC
- Touch ID or Face ID for secure authentication
- Available in more than 60 countries
- Accepted at millions of retail locations around the world
- Available on the web
- Person-to-person payments in the U.S.
Setting Up Apple Pay
After installing iOS 8.1 or later, Apple Pay can be set up in the Wallet app. Tapping the “+” icon in Wallet lets users to add a credit or debit card to Apple Pay, either selecting a card already on file with iTunes or scanning one in with the camera. Apple Pay can also be set up by using the prompts when setting up a new iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Credit and debit cards are verified in just a few seconds, but some cards require a phone call, app download, or an email to verify a card before it can be added to Apple Pay. Once a card is verified, it is immediately available for purchases both in stores and within apps. Up to eight cards can be registered with Apple Pay at one time.
Apple Pay can be managed in the Settings app, located in the “Wallet and Apple Pay” section. Each card added to Wallet is listed in that section, along with information like billing address, email, and phone number. Tapping on a card offers specific information like last digits of the card number, last digits of the Device Account Number that replaces the card number in transactions, and it also provides contact information for the bank that issued the card.
Some cards are also able to display transaction information, offering a list of recent transactions that have been made, with Apple Pay or with a traditional purchase via physical card.
How It Works
In a retail store, when approaching a point-of-sale system compatible with Apple Pay, the screen of the iPhone lights up and opens Wallet automatically, where a user can tap on a credit card to be used or pay with the default Apple Pay card.
A payment is made by holding a compatible iPhone or Apple Watch near a checkout system that includes NFC, most of which look like standard card checkout terminals within stores. A finger registered with Touch ID must be kept on the home button for a short amount of time (or the Apple Watch must be kept on the wrist), after which a payment is authenticated and the transaction is completed.
A completed payment is denoted by a slight vibration, a check mark on the screen, and a beep. On devices with Face ID, a facial scan is used in lieu of a fingerprint scan, and a double tap is required on the side button of the device to confirm a payment.
Making a payment online via Apple Pay is just as simple as an in store payment because it uses the same credit card and authenticates with Touch ID in participating apps that have adopted the Apple Pay API. Using Apple Pay in an app or on a website bypasses all of the steps that are usually required when making an online purchase, including entering shipping and payment information.
After an item is added to an online cart and a user initiates the checkout process, Apple Pay can be selected as the payment method. The shipping/billing address associated with the credit or debit card on file is automatically entered, as is a user’s name, and the purchase is confirmed via Touch ID. During this process, information like shipping address can be altered, which is useful when ordering a gift. Online payments using Apple Pay for the web follow the same process.
Compatible Devices
Apple Pay in stores is available for the iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus, 6s Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, X, XS, XS Max, XR, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, all of which contain near-field communication (NFC) chips that have not been incorporated into previous-generation iPhones.
Apple Pay also works with Apple Watch, the company’s wrist-worn wearable device. The Apple Watch allows owners of older iPhones, including the iPhone 5, 5c, and 5s, to use Apple Pay in retail stores. Though the Watch needs to be paired with a phone, Apple Pay can be used when the phone is not present.
Retail Partners:
Because Apple Pay is based on already existing NFC technology, the service works in hundreds of thousands of locations that accept contactless payments in the countries where Apple Pay is accepted. Apple Pay launched with a handful of partners, but over the course of the last two years, many more stores have begun accepting the payments service.
Apple Pay is accepted in more than a million retail stores, restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, and more across the United States. By the beginning of 2019, Apple Pay was available in 65 percent of U.S. retail locations. 74 of the top 100 merchants in the United States accept Apple Pay.
Some of Apple’s partners include Best Buy, B&H Photo, Bloomingdales, Chevron, Disney, Dunkin Donuts, GameStop, Jamba Juice, Kohl’s, Lucky, McDonald’s, Office Depot, Petco, Sprouts, Staples, KFC, Trader Joe’s, Walgreens, Safeway, Costco, Whole Foods, CVS, Target, Publix, Taco Bell, and 7-11.
Transit systems in Philadelphia, Portland, Chicago, New York, Boston, San Diego, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Toronto, Montreal, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and 275 cities in China have added support for Apple Pay, with a list of states, countries, and regions that support Apple Pay for transit available here.
Apple Pay can be used to pay for transit on iPhone and Apple Watch, and in many of the above listed areas, Express Transit Mode is available. With Express Transit Mode, the iPhone and Apple Watch can be used to quickly pay for rides without having to unlock the device, open an app, or validate with Face ID/Touch ID.
Apple Pay is also available in many places outside of traditional retail stores, including universities, ballparks, non-
Apple Pay on the Web
With iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, Apple Pay expanded to websites.
On Macs with a Touch Bar, purchases are verified through Touch ID. On other machines, purchases are verified through a connection to an Apple Watch or an iPhone, with the purchase authorized via Touch ID/Face ID, and on the iPhone and iPad, purchases are authorized through Touch ID
Apple Cash
In iOS 11.2, Apple introduced Apple Cash (formerly Apple Pay Cash), designed to allow users to send peer-to-peer Apple Pay payments using Messages on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Apple Cash lets you send money to friends and family with a connected debit card, similar to services like Square Cash or Venmo.
Tap to Pay on iPhone
Apple in February 2022 introduced “Tap to Pay on iPhone,” a feature designed to allow NFC-compatible iPhones to accept payments through Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets, without requiring additional hardware.
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