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Apple pay doesn't work all the time

B

blasto333

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 3, 2004
247
2
I have a grocery store around me that accepts apple pay and it doesn't work all the time. I also am a point of sale software developer and have been developing with a device that supports apple pay. And sure enough it doesn't work all the time on that either. (I tried it a lot)

I doubt it is the reader. Is there some sort of thing I don't know on how to get it to work? Do I have to wait a period of time? I cannot nail down why it doesn't work; but it works probably 60% of the time.
 
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I've noticed the same as I purchase a coffee every day with my watch and I'd say 1/10 don't work. Just requires a retap
 
There is a mom and pop restaurant near my work that takes Apple pay and half the time it doesn't work with their POS terminal. I've tried my watch AND phone and neither has worked for me there. Down the street at Walgreens it has worked 100% of the time.
 
I use my watch on the vending machine at work, Wallgreens, and Whole Foods and have had 0 issue.

Make sure you're using the top edge of the watch (if orientation is Digital Crown on right side) as the point of "contact", not the screen.
 
Armen said:
There is a mom and pop restaurant near my work that takes Apple pay and half the time it doesn't work with their POS terminal. I've tried my watch AND phone and neither has worked for me there. Down the street at Walgreens it has worked 100% of the time.
Click to expand...

So it's a Piece Of S*** terminal.
 
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I've had it fail the first attempt a few times in the maybe 50 times I've used Apple Pay at various POS machines. The 2nd attempt always works.
 
I find this issue with the phone at times and so I just assumed maybe the software is a bit hit/miss about Apple Pay at the moment.

Places like Burger King here in the UK have a bit of a makeshift system with two payment terminals one which the employee initiates the payment on and one which the customer uses - maybe this sort of setup does not play nicely with Apple Pay.

Armen said:
Pretty much. The owner is all like "not many people use dees seestem." when it doesnt work but in the early days he was like "I like dees appel seestem..its use token and more secure". Whatever dude :)
Click to expand...

I read this in my head with the accent :oops:.
 
I've used it at Staples twice & it worked fine

Once at Walgreens & also fine

About 10 times at McDonalds & it fails 2/3 of the time. I stopped using it there because it is so annoying
 
Apple Pay has worked for me most of the time, though I've had a few instances where I couldn't get it to work on the watch and had to use the iPhone as backup. What's bothered me more, though, were the occasions where the store's terminal accepted the transaction, but I still had to sign to complete it. That makes Apple Pay less convenient for me, and I don't see how me scribbling something that doesn't remotely resemble my signature makes it more likely that the vendor will be paid. An even bigger problem for me is that AP isn't accepted at many places where I shop or eat, so I end up using it only a couple of times a month.
 
Basically works all the time for me. There are only some instances where I told leave the watch on the machine long enough for it to complete the transaction and i have to do it over. Used it at Petco yesterday. The cashier had one too. She had black sport watch with a blue band. It looked ugly as s*** but that's ok. :)
 
deadandalive said:
I've used it at Staples twice & it worked fine

Once at Walgreens & also fine

About 10 times at McDonalds & it fails 2/3 of the time. I stopped using it there because it is so annoying
Click to expand...
I find the issue at McDonalds is not the AW but the employee at the terminal. When I see he/she is having problems I get the shift manager to help.
 
jaymc said:
I find the issue at McDonalds is not the AW but the employee at the terminal. When I see he/she is having problems I get the shift manager to help.
Click to expand...
From my experience when in US McDonalds and using a contactless card, an awful lot of the contactless readers seem to be broken. The first light isn't even lit up.
 
jaymc said:
I find the issue at McDonalds is not the AW but the employee at the terminal. When I see he/she is having problems I get the shift manager to help.
Click to expand...

That's what it looks like to me at McDonalds - the employee doesnt know what they are doing

When AP shows me that it was done, it looks to me like the employee needs to hit something on the register to get it to complete the transaction

But most of the time they just stand there with a vacant look on their faces, even when I tell them they are supposed to do something on the register to complete the payment
 
I got an iPhone 6s and at the same store it works every time where the watch works 1/2 the time. So maybe the watch isn't as good as phone.
 
blasto333 said:
I got an iPhone 6s and at the same store it works every time where the watch works 1/2 the time. So maybe the watch isn't as good as phone.
Click to expand...

I have not use iPhone for AP since I got my AW in May 2015, and I use AP at least 5-10 times weekly.
No problem at all for me for AP with AW.
Either your AW has issue, terminal at where you use xxxx, or you do not use it "correctly".
I mention in another thread, one need to have patient use AP with AW, hold your AW within 1/2" of terminal right above NFC sign, and hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it.... it will work unless terminal does not work.
It is slow, but will work.
 
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I have tried the Watch twice in different stores in the UK (Boots and the local Post Office) and it hasn't worked but it did work on both occasions when I took out my phone.
 
Has worked 100% of the times I've tried it. It even works on the soda machine in my office!
 
I have had quite a few failed attempts but when I do without fail tapping the physical card works so its something to do with Apples implementation and hopefully it will be fixed
 
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