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Apple Pay Launches in the Philippines

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Apple Pay expanded to the Philippines today, which means iPhone and Apple Watch owners in the country can add supported debit and credit cards to the Wallet app for contactless payments.

apple-pay-feature-dynamic-island.jpg

Credit and debit cards can be added by opening the Wallet app and tapping on the "+" button. According to users on Reddit, supported banks include UnionBank, GoTyme, Metrobank, and Chinabank. Cards are verified using SMS or phone call.

Once an eligible card is added to the Wallet app, it can be used at retail locations that support Apple Pay. Reddit users have been able to add their cards to Apple Wallet and make Apple Pay purchases at stores like Starbucks and 7-Eleven.

Apple Pay is available in a long list of countries around the world, with details on supported banks. The Philippines hasn't been added to Apple's site yet, but Apple should soon have a full list of participating banks.

Article Link: Apple Pay Launches in the Philippines
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/08/03/apple-pay-philippines/
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So both Google Pay and Apple Pay are available in the Philippines?

I think and as far as I can remember, this is the first MacRumors article with Philippines as the subject.
 
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Weird! I've used Apple Pay when I visited three years ago. Most places have NFC readers now, but still get those "wow" looks when I wave my Apple Watch to pay for food or other things.
 
You could always pay with Apple Pay at any NFC-enabled POS terminal in the world regardless of whether Apple Pay is available in a particular country or not (with a lot of US/UK exceptions like Walmart and others not wanting to pay Apple's cut per transaction).
 
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Will.O.Bie said:
Weird! I've used Apple Pay when I visited three years ago. Most places have NFC readers now, but still get those "wow" looks when I wave my Apple Watch to pay for food or other things.
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ppetrovic said:
You could always pay with Apple Pay at any NFC-enabled POS terminal in the world regardless of whether Apple Pay is available in a particular country or not (with a lot of US/UK exceptions like Walmart and others not wanting to pay Apple's cut per transaction).
Click to expand...
Yes, all true, but to clarify: Apple Pay launching in the Philippines means that Philippine-based banks have finally enabled their locally issued cards for use on Apple Pay.

So, starting today, cards issued in the Philippines can finally be tokenized for use on Apple Pay.
 
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ppetrovic said:
You could always pay with Apple Pay at any NFC-enabled POS terminal in the world regardless of whether Apple Pay is available in a particular country or not (with a lot of US/UK exceptions like Walmart and others not wanting to pay Apple's cut per transaction).
Click to expand...
The issue is you couldn’t add any Fillipino bank cards.
 
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winxmac said:
So both Google Pay and Apple Pay are available in the Philippines?

I think and as far as I can remember, this is the first MacRumors article with Philippines as the subject.
Click to expand...
Also Garmin Pay (since June) and Samsung Pay (last week). Although Samsung Pay only supports online payments as of now. No tap-to-pay yet
 
So would a US Chase Visa card work with Apple Pay if I visit the country? Or just those supported banks mentioned?
 
dontwalkhand said:
The issue is you couldn’t add any Fillipino bank cards.
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I know.

VPsmith said:
So would a US Chase Visa card work with Apple Pay if I visit the country? Or just those supported banks mentioned?
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Yes, a US-issued Visa will work in the Philippines just fine. A POS terminal anywhere in the world doesn't "know" it's Apple Pay-tokenized card initiating the transaction, it's all just a generic NFC to it.
 
"supported banks include UnionBank, GoTyme, Metrobank, and Chinabank"

I certainly hope that's not the final list a lot of heavy hitters missing...
 
Hopefully Philippines makes tap to pay more reliable after this. I went there for vacation and paying with my Apple Watch didn't always succeed. Even tapping with my physical card didn't always succeed either and I had to fallback to swiping/inserting my card (same one attached to Apple Pay) which always succeeded.
 
I couldn't believe that I would finally see an article about Apple Pay Philippines since, from time to time, when visiting MacRumors for almost 10 years hoping that I would get information on when it would be available🥹
 
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Some PH merchants swipe the magnetic stripe tape at the back of cards onto their POS (not merchant's card terminal). I wonder how they'll adjust.

Those using Apple/Google Pay in PH suggest you bring your physical card with you for the next 30-60 days while merchants are updated and train their front liners on how to process tap-to-ay via smartwatch/smartphone
 
exidy said:
I'm sure no disrespect intended on your part, but calling the Philippines "the PI" is a bit like calling Thailand "Siam". It refers to the period of time that the Philippines was a US colony. Since 1946 it's simply "The [Republic of the] Philippines" or PH for short.
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I'm a Filipino who has lived in the Philippines for nearly half a century and I'm not offended by the term of PI.
 
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I used Apple Pay in the philippines in the last 3 years. But mostly only in Starbucks. Many Maya Terminals did not accept any tap to pay. Last November Google Pay lunched and many terminals got updated. Also SM`s are not accepting Tap to pay. It would already worked before but many had a store policy which only allowed the customer to use tap to pay with a physical card. No one ever youlc explain me why...


I guess now it will even get more popular and I am very happy about this
🙂
 
jprmercado said:
Yes, all true, but to clarify: Apple Pay launching in the Philippines means that Philippine-based banks have finally enabled their locally issued cards for use on Apple Pay.

So, starting today, cards issued in the Philippines can finally be tokenized for use on Apple Pay.
Click to expand...

Oh my word. 12 years after it first launch. I sometimes wonder if it is really banks in Philippines holding it up or it was just Apple.
 
Still waiting here in Thailand. To be clear, almost every vendor here already accepts Apple Pay, but no bank here does. So the usage is limited to foreign tourists using their apple pay compatible cards.
 
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