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Apple Pay Officially Launches in the United Kingdom Today

First Direct not yet live - but MBNA credit card (who is meant to be second wave!) works!

I found opening passbook and leaving it open prompts the system to add the apple pay option.




MacRumors said:



Over the past several days, banks and merchants in the United Kingdom have been gearing up for the launch of Apple Pay, and as of today, Apple's payments service will be officially available for use in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Apple Pay works at participating retail stores and within apps that accept it. Because it requires NFC, it is only available for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users, and Apple Watch users who have an iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, 6, or 6 Plus. In-app Apple Pay purchases can be made with an iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6 Plus.

applepayuklive.jpg

According to Apple's UK Apple Pay site, banks and credit card companies that are participating in the Apple Pay launch include American Express, First Direct, HSBC, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, and Ulster Bank. Additional banks like Barclays, MBNA, TSB, and more are expected to add support in the future. Customers who have cards from participating banks will be able to add them to Passbook and use the Apple Pay service later today.

More than 250,000 locations in the United Kingdom support Apple Pay as of today, ranging from fast food places like KFC and McDonald's to shops like Boots, Marks & Spencer, and Waitrose. A full list of retail shops and apps that accept Apple Pay can be found on Apple's website.

Apple Pay has been available in the United States since last October and today's UK Apple Pay launch marks its first expansion. Apple is also rumored to be working on expanding the payments service to several other countries, including China and Canada.

Article Link: Apple Pay Officially Launches in the United Kingdom Today
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I added my Amex credit card and my Natwest debit card.
However my main banks are Barclays and Lloyds.. I only got the Natwest account recently and have literally only £2 on it :D
 
RestlessCaviar said:
The angle doesn't matter from the point of view of the reader, but you do have to get it close enough. The card reader I tried to use in Starbucks had a plastic pin-code privacy guard below the contactless reading area, so to get the phone close enough, I had to angle it to the left (with the phone in my right hand).
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From;

https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-pay/

iPhone 6: "To pay, just hold your iPhone near the contactless reader with your finger on Touch ID."

Apple Watch: "To pay with Apple Watch, just double‑click the side button and hold the display of Apple Watch up to the contactless reader."

My own experience with Apple Watch (not even tried with iPhone yet) has been that it has to be screen to screen more or less.
 
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I've set up Apple pay on phone and watch. The same contactless card is already registered with my Oyster account. Am I now ready to use for rail travel? I expected my devices to appear in my Oyster account but I can still only see my card. Do I have to add them somehow?
 
flipshot said:
You can do the fingerprint activation in advance if you open passbook, select the card and hold your finger on touch id. It will then say Hold Near Reader To Pay and you don't need your fingerprint at that point until it times out.
Click to expand...

Similarly with the watch. Double Clicking triggers some form of "listening" mode. Do not know how long before it times out, but from a tube perspective getting yourself sorted as you reach the top of the escalator is probably a good idea so you are not scrambling to do so at the barrier.
 
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RestlessCaviar said:
The angle doesn't matter from the point of view of the reader, but you do have to get it close enough. The card reader I tried to use in Starbucks had a plastic pin-code privacy guard below the contactless reading area, so to get the phone close enough, I had to angle it to the left (with the phone in my right hand).
Click to expand...
Ahh that makes sense. Sounds like they need to get with the program and remove those guards. Nobody has privacy anymore anyway!
 
Quick reset and then Apple pay was available from the wallet app, was able to register both Santander and American express so will give its try later!
 
Kovich said:
Similarly with the watch. Double Clicking triggers some form of "listening" mode. Do not know how long before it times out, but from a tube perspective getting yourself sorted as you reach the top of the escalator is probably a good idea so you are not scrambling to do so at the barrier.
Click to expand...

I imagine this being far more convenient with a watch rather than phone. I just don't see myself doing this on the phone, even if I don't need to keep my thumb in place. It just sounds really awkward to have to get your phone out, unlock the phone (which does seem to take time when you need it quickly), open Passbook, authorise with your finger, then queue up holding your phone while trying not to press anything else or leave the app. On top of all this, the phone is a really expensive and slippery device - I can see a lot of phone drop incidents with the first wave of us geeks trying it.
 
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RestlessCaviar said:
I imagine this being far more convenient with a watch rather than phone. I just don't see myself doing this on the phone, even if I don't need to keep my thumb in place. It just sounds really awkward to have to get your phone out, unlock the phone (which does seem to take time when you need it quickly), open Passbook, authorise with your finger, then queue up holding your phone while trying not to press anything else or leave the app. On top of all this, the phone is a really expensive and slippery device - I can see a lot of phone drop incidents with the first wave of us geeks trying it.
Click to expand...

You just double click the home button when the phone is locked and it brings up Apple Pay. No need to unlock and find Passbook (or Wallet).
 
ridcully said:
I've set up Apple pay on phone and watch. The same contactless card is already registered with my Oyster account. Am I now ready to use for rail travel? I expected my devices to appear in my Oyster account but I can still only see my card. Do I have to add them somehow?
Click to expand...
You don't need to do anything but tap on the reader. It's not done through your oyster account.
 
RestlessCaviar said:
Thanks, I did try that as it happens (in Starbucks, not the tube), and keeping your thumb in place while manoeuvring the phone is unexpectedly awkward. I just don't see it happening on the tube barriers - you'd have to stand to the side, open the app, put your thumb on the reader, then keep it there while you joined the queue, and then present the phone to the reader, all without dropping your phone or moving your thumb of the button. Just tapping a plastic card is quite a lot faster and much easier.

My initial impressions are that in practice it's very disappointing.
Click to expand...

you can re-register your thumb and be sure to put it at the angle you want to use touch ID at the barriers. Then your experience will go smoother.

You could even flip the iPhone round to register the thumb print so the lighting connecter is facing up and forwards so the iPhone is palmed more in your hand. If that makes sense.
 
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Just got an email too. They have clearly botched the launch. Why not just admit it was technical problems or something. This isn't something I would leave a bank for, it's just annoying.
 

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I just added two cards to Passbook on iPhone 6, then double-clicked the side button on my Apple Watch to view them and it says you have to add them again for the Watch! That's just stupid.
 
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RestlessCaviar said:
But that's not using the pre-auth method right? That's where you have to keep your thumb on and present it to the reader.
Click to expand...

You can do it both ways:

A) from lock (screen off) double click home button. choose a different card if you need to. Move near detector and you will be ask for fingerprint auth

Or

B) double click home button. Choose card or use default. TouchID auth. Now it's authenticated and you can move near detector as soon as you are able to (ie as you approach the tube barriers)
 
64bit said:
I just added two cards to Passbook on iPhone 6, then double-clicked the side button on my Apple Watch to view them and it says you have to add them again for the Watch! That's just stupid.
Click to expand...

It's not. Auth and storage is independent from phone.
 
ridcully said:
I've set up Apple pay on phone and watch. The same contactless card is already registered with my Oyster account. Am I now ready to use for rail travel? I expected my devices to appear in my Oyster account but I can still only see my card. Do I have to add them somehow?
Click to expand...

Gav2k said:
You don't need to do anything but tap on the reader. It's not done through your oyster account.
Click to expand...

In theory you should be able to add your Apple Pay device to your Oyster online account, to see your journey history, etc.

However, you'd need your Apple Pay DAN (Device Account Number) in order to do that. I had thought this would be shown under Settings -> Passbook & Apple Pay. But in only shows the last 4 digits of the DAN, not the full number.

Does anyone know how to retrieve the complete DAN?
 
jmmo20 said:
You can do it both ways:

A) from lock (screen off) double click home button. choose a different card if you need to. Move near detector and you will be ask for fingerprint auth

Or

B) double click home button. Choose card or use default. TouchID auth. Now it's authenticated and you can move near detector as soon as you are able to (ie as you approach the tube barriers)
Click to expand...

As @flipshot says, maybe that's an iOS 9-only thing. That's not the behaviour I'm seeing on 8.4
 
I can see HSBC bring their release forward. Seems like the only way to stamp out the bad press they are getting.
 
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