Over the last few years, support for Apple Pay has slowly spread across the retail landscape. Though it seems to be supported at most large retailers these days, there are still a few hold-outs who have yet to bite. CVS was famously one of these early holdouts, but all of that is changing today, as the nationwide pharmacy chain has finally flipped the switch on Apple Pay support.
Apple Wallet already supports a number of different cards, whether those are credit cards, loyalty cards, coupons, or transit passes. Today, however, Apple is beginning a pretty major expansion for Wallet by rolling out support for student IDs. At first, this launch will be small-scale, but of course, the hope is that more universities begin supporting Apple Wallet on a wider scale in the near future.
It’s a long time coming, but 7-Eleven shoppers can now take advantage of the convenience of not having to bring cash with them to buy at stores. Instead, they can simply tap their smartphones on terminals and that’s that. Digital payments at 7-Eleven just got an upgrade with the addition of Apple Pay and Google Pay to its list, ensuring that three of the biggest mobile payment systems in the US are now all accounted for.
Mobile payment systems might not yet be as common as, say, credit cards, but their silent and steady growth is like a stealthy invasion that will suddenly take us by surprise. Apple Pay, in particular, claims to have already surpassed market leader Square in terms of transaction numbers. Now Apple is moving to cement its position and show its strength by announcing Apple Pay’s upcoming appearances in, among other places, CVS Pharmacy and 7-11 stores.
Earlier this year, eBay announced plans to begin changing the way it handles payments on its marketplace. As part of this plan, it dropped PayPal as the primary payment processor for purchases and announced its intention to begin managing end-to-end payments itself. While it won't be ready to flip the switch on that initiative until later this year, we now know that eBay will begin supporting Apple Pay when it does.
The Church of England just got a big tech upgrade. To make donation easier (or perhaps just to target youth who don't carry physical money), the religious entity has launched support for Apple Pay and Google Pay, enabling parishioners to make payments or donate using their smartphone. The official launch follows a small trial that took place in summer 2017, one that apparently was a success.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has conceded that Apple Pay hasn't replaced cash payments as rapidly as he predicted, but a significant increase in Apple Watch sales could help accelerate that process. Cook was speaking today at the Apple shareholders' meeting, which was held for the first time at the company's new Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park.
After a brief hiccup due to an unplanned early update, Apple has finally flipped the switch for its much-awaited “person to person” mobile payment system. But since Apple Pay Cash transactions happen on Messages, you might presume it’s only limited to iPhones and iPads. Apple has now released the fine details of the new system and in case you missed it in beta, here’s the all-important reminder: you can use the Apple Watch to send payments, too.
Apple rolled out iOS 11.2 over the weekend earlier than scheduled in order to immediately address a critical bug that had devices crashing left and right on that date. Because of the rush, however, it also rolled out a feature that was practically useless at that time: Apple Pay Cash. The peer-to-peer payment feature was indeed included in iOS 11.2 but wasn’t actually enabled yet. Fortunately, you won’t have to wait that long as Apple Pay Cash is now starting to become available for use for those in the US.
If you’ve been hungry for any big news on the mobile payments market, you better take a seat for this one. The long-awaited evolution of Apple Pay has finally arrived. In beta form, at least. Simply called Apple Pay Cash, this extension of Apple’s mobile payment service takes the middle man out of sending money to someone digitally, taking a small bite out of the likes of PayPal. That said, the convenience only works if both parties are using iMessage and that the recipient pays for most of his or her shopping with Apple Pay.
Wells Fargo has announced that it is upgrading more than 5,000 of its ATMs with support for NFC-based mobile payment systems including Android Pay and Apple Pay. The 5,000 figure represents only about 40-percent of the bank's ATMs; Wells Fargo says it plans to bring the support to more than 13,000 of its ATMs by the 2019.
Certain white supremacists websites can no longer accept payments using Apple Pay following Apple's disabling of the support. Apple confirmed the news this week via a spokesperson, who pointed toward the Apple Pay guidelines that prohibit use for sites determined to be spreading intolerance, hate or advocating violence. This move follows multiple other companies that have revoked support for various racist websites.