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I have to touch the watch directly against the credit card terminal to get it to work

dontwalkhand

dontwalkhand

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
6,579
3,252
Phoenix, AZ
Is my watch defective? I have to pretty much touch the glass of my watch to directly to the payment terminal to get the watch and terminal to react to the NFC payment feature, Apple Pay. On the Verifone MX 915/925 terminals, it involves touching it directly to the glass of the terminal, whereas on older Verifone MX860 and some of the older ones like McDonalds uses, I have to touch it directly to the PayPass pad.

With my iPhone I could hold the device an inch away, with the Apple Watch I have to flip my wrist around and do this. Is this normal?
 
I've only used it once with the watch, and I did pretty much touch it to the terminal, so I'm not sure if it would work farther away. Is it really a big problem though?
 
Last edited:
Both times I used it, I had to literally tap my watch against the terminal for it to work. I almost looked like a dumbass. =\
 
Apple must be secretly trying to upsell to the SS models so the anal retentive types do not shudder at the thought of the sapphire crystal getting all scratched up.

But I don't get it. Hovering it once inch away from the terminal is fine but actually tapping it makes you look like a dumbass?
 
I didn't have to touch the terminal, but I did rotate the watch face towards it like they do in the Apple Pay guided tour ⬇︎


It seems like it should work if you just float your wrist over the terminal (with the watch face up) — I mean to try that, but I've only used Apple Pay a couple of times. However, I suppose the radio signals are too weak to go through most people's wrists (or perhaps the watch internals/band interferes).
 
I used it twice and I did not have to touch the watch to the terminal. In simply worked the watch in the vicinity. Exactly as it should.
 
I've used apple pay several times and haven't had to touch the terminal. It registers NFC at approx an inch away. Wonder if we have some NFC antenna issues floating around out there?
 
bruceabbott said:
I've used apple pay several times and haven't had to touch the terminal. It registers NFC at approx an inch away. Wonder if we have some NFC antenna issues floating around out there?
Click to expand...

This is what I'm afraid of. At every single terminal I encounter I pretty much have to have the glass on my watch touch the glass on the terminal. Whether if it's the grocery store, gas station, McDonalds, wherever that has it. This tells me it's not the terminal, it's my watch :-(.
 
Did not have to touch watch to terminal. I merely pointed watch at it - maybe 2 inches away, and pressed side button twice. Boom.
 
I used my watch at the Apple Store with iPay and the employees were shocked how close I had to get to their handheld device for payment. Literally less than 1/2" from the payment device to the watch face before it finally saw it.
 
I used my watch at a terminal that actually had a sticker on it that said to tap your device on the terminal and I did have to tap my watch. Used the watch at another store and I only had to put my wrist over the terminal like in the video.
 
I have used the watch with apple pay and i never had to get it close to the terminal. I raised my arm to the terminal about 4" away and it works every time. I also never had to flip it over so the screen is facing the terminal.
 
I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet. Only chance i had was one time but didn't realize there was extra setup for apple pay on the watch. Just assumed if it was working on phone it would work on watch.
 
Not having too many places around me that have Apple Pay (ie not living in a city), I've attempted to use it twice from my Watch. I do make (almost) daily trips during lunch hours to the Walgreen's near my office where I've used my iPhone for Apple Pay for months. Monday, I used my Watch and it worked as if I'd been using it for my whole life. Yesterday, I had maybe three quick failed attempts before I cracked a joke about the inconvenience of having to whip out my iPhone to pay. Perhaps I needed to physically touch the Watch to the pay station that time around as you mention.

Was going to suggest that it may be more likely to be the pay station's signal that was at fault rather than your Watch, OP, but saw you kind of already addressed that by saying that you've used it at multiple stores with the same results. Tho, my 50/50 experience with the same exact kiosk doesn't have me worrying about my Watch potentially being the issue just yet.

I'll see what happens today when I drop into Walgreen's...
 
I'm actually quite shy of using the Watch for Apple Pay. Same for my phone. I don't know, I feel like I come off as a douchebag.
 
I've used it a handful of times and never had to touch the terminal. Probably a couple inches away. It works just like the phone.
 
Cuyler said:
I didn't have to touch the terminal, but I did rotate the watch face towards it like they do in the Apple Pay guided tour ⬇︎

YouTube: video

It seems like it should work if you just float your wrist over the terminal (with the watch face up) — I mean to try that, but I've only used Apple Pay a couple of times. However, I suppose the radio signals are too weak to go through most people's wrists (or perhaps the watch internals/band interferes).
Click to expand...

off topic, but at 1:15 the card will do a swipe animation while on the actual watches it just fades in. It looks so much better swiping in, I wonder if they will put it back :/
 
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