Does Apple Pay on Apple Watch work without iPhone passcode?

[Mizu7]

Hello,

Iˇd like to ask if it´s possible to use Apple Pay on Apple Watch, which has the passcode set up with iPhone, which has no passcode set up and therefore has no cards added in Wallet? Thank you.

 

[Crowbot]

There have to be cards in the iPhone's Wallet for it to work on the Watch. And I don't believe you will be able to use Wallet without using a passcode on the iPhone.

 

[gjamesm42]

You can set up cards on the watch only. They don't have to be on your phone. Your phone doesn't even need to be with you.

 

[ecschwarz]

The Watch can have its own independent passcode for when it goes off your wrist and gets bypassed if you wake your phone with it attached to your wrist (or you enter the passcode when you first put it on). Once it's attached to you, you won't need a passcode for Apple Pay (double-click the side button is it). You may need to set up a passcode on the Watch to set up Apple Pay, but it's not annoying or intrusive (acts quite different than a passcode on an iPhone that doesn't have Touch ID or Face ID set up).

You can also add different cards to the Watch than are on an iPhone or even add them only to the Watch.

 

[lartola]

There have to be cards in the iPhone's Wallet for it to work on the Watch. And I don't believe you will be able to use Wallet without using a passcode on the iPhone.

No there don’t have to be cards on the iphone wallet. Apple Pay on the apple watch is entirely independent from apple pay on its paired iphone. You can have different cards on each device or even have some cards stored in one and no cards at all in the other.
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Hello,

Iˇd like to ask if it´s possible to use Apple Pay on Apple Watch, which has the passcode set up with iPhone, which has no passcode set up and therefore has no cards added in Wallet? Thank you.

You should be able to do so if the watch has a passcode. Apple Pay on the watch is independent from apple pay on its paired iphone. However, if you do set up apple pay on the watch it would be wise to set a passcode or biometric ID on the iphone, as anyone who gets access to your phone would get access to your watch settings too via the watch app.

 

[Crowbot]

No there don’t have to be cards on the iphone wallet. Apple Pay on the apple watch is entirely independent from apple pay on its paired iphone. You can have different cards on each device or even have some cards stored in one and no cards at all in the other.

How do you get the cards on the watch without the phone or some other device? As I remember, you need to take a pic of the card or something.

 

[lartola]

How do you get the cards on the watch without the phone or some other device? As I remember, you need to take a pic of the card or something.

You store credit or debit cards on the watch using the wallet & apple pay section in the dedicated watch app on the paired iphone. And yes, you can scan the card using the iphone’s camera but that’s only optional; it’s always possible to manually enter all the information. What I meant to say before was that credit and debit cards stored in apple watch are independent from credit and debit cards stored on iphone, so you can go directly to the watch app on the iphone and store any credit or debit cards you want on the apple watch without having to store those same cards on the iphone’s own wallet app first (i.e., the iphone’s own wallet app can remain empty). Because of this, I believe adding credit or debit cards to apple watch can be done even when the paired iphone has no passcode just as long as the watch itself does have a passcode, though I haven’t tried it yet. I never said you could add debit or credit cards on an apple watch without using the paired iphone at all, I only said that it’s not a requirement to also have the same credit or debit cards stored in the iphone.

I believe you’re confused between apple pay and the passbook functionality of wallet, the latter of which allows to store boarding passes, loyalty cards, etc. For those passbook passes, you do have to store the card in the iphone’s own wallet app for it to show up on apple watch too. But the question here was about apple pay, not passbook.

 

[Crowbot]

What I meant to say before was that credit and debit cards stored in apple watch are independent from credit and debit cards stored on iphone, so you can go directly to the watch app on the iphone and store any credit or debit cards you want on the apple watch without having to store those same cards on the iphone’s own wallet app first (i.e., the iphone’s own wallet app can remain empty). Because of this, I believe adding credit or debit cards to apple watch can be done even when the paired iphone has no passcode just as long as the watch itself does have a passcode, though I haven’t tried it yet. I never said you could add debit or credit cards on an apple watch without using the paired iphone at all, I only said that it’s not a requirement to also have the same credit or debit cards stored in the iphone.

You're right there. I did not know you could add a card to the watch through the Watch app. I guess it never occurred to me to do that so I didn't try. It looked to me that you were saying you could add cards without using the phone at all. OTOH, I can't imagine NOT having a passcode on my phone. 🙂

 

[paulchiu]

Anyway to use Apple pay without double clicking before transit readers?

 

[lartola]

You're right there. I did not know you could add a card to the watch through the Watch app. I guess it never occurred to me to do that so I didn't try. It looked to me that you were saying you could add cards without using the phone at all. OTOH, I can't imagine NOT having a passcode on my phone. 🙂

Actually, though adding cards to the watch without using the phone at all wasn’t possible at the time I wrote that comment (2019), watchOS 7 made it possible a year later to add cards directly on the watch itself.