Paying with Apple Pay takes two seconds once you know the gesture. Double-click the side button, glance at the phone for Face ID, hold the top of your iPhone near the reader. Done. The same flow works in apps and on checkout pages in Safari, with Face ID standing in for the card number you would have typed.
Credit to TruFinancials for the demo. Apple moves its menus with every big update, so what follows sticks to the parts that do not move: the button you press, where you hold the phone, what the screen says.
What you need
- An iPhone with Face ID or Touch ID, or a paired Apple Watch
- One card in the Wallet app. Not there yet? Start with how to set up Apple Pay.
- A card reader with the contactless symbol on it
- Nothing else. No signal, no wifi, no app to open first.
How to pay with Apple Pay at a store
Press the side button on the right edge twice, fast. Your default card slides up and the Face ID payment screen appears. Look at the phone so Face ID can read you, the card flips to say Hold Near Reader, and you hold the top of your iPhone near the reader, an inch or two away. A buzz, a checkmark, and the receipt prints.
The double-click works from the lock screen or from inside any app, so there is nothing to open first. The antenna runs along the top edge, not the back, which is why the middle of the phone against the terminal does nothing. On an iPhone with a home button, double-press that and use Touch ID.
How to spot the contactless payment symbol
Four curved lines fanning out, like a wifi icon on its side, printed on the reader beside the chip slot. That wave is what you look for. Some terminals add the Apple Pay logo too.
Target, Costco, Walgreens, Starbucks, most gas pumps and nearly every taxi take it. A stripe slot with no wave does not. Check the reader while you are still in line.
Paying with an Apple Watch
The watch uses a different button. Double-press the flat side button below the digital crown, then hold the watch face near the reader until you feel the tap. No Face ID here - it trusts you because it has been on your wrist since morning. Cards go on the watch separately, which setting up an Apple Watch covers.
Apple Pay did not work at the register
- Nothing came up on the double-click. No card on that device, or the bank has not verified it yet. Open Wallet and look.
- Face ID would not confirm. Sunglasses, a low hat brim, or the phone held too close. Hold it at reading distance, or enter your passcode instead.
- The reader ignored the phone. Move the top edge closer and hold still a second. A metal card holder on the back is a common culprit.
- The wrong card got charged. Your default is whichever card sits at the front in Wallet. After the double-click, tap the card on screen and pick another one.
- No wave on the terminal. It cannot take a tap. Use the plastic.
- The whole thing froze. Restarting the iPhone fixes it more often than it should, and a phone nobody has updated in a year is worth catching up.
None of it needs a signal. Apple Pay works in a basement garage, because the card lives on the device.
Is Apple Pay safe?
Safer than handing over the card. Your phone stores a device account number in place of the real one, and that stand-in is what the store gets, so a cashier never sees your digits and a breached database holds nothing of yours. Every payment needs your face, fingerprint or passcode.
New to iPhone? Setting up an iPhone starts at the Hello screen. Also handy: taking a screenshot and clearing your cache.
