Survey: Only 6% of U.S. iPhone Users Who Set Up Apple Pay Actually Use It

[remington79]

Walmart and Capital One are both pushing that Walmart Pay pretty hard with Capital One have a specific credit card that gives extra bonuses if you use Walmart Pay.
They’re doing everything they can to get people to use. They have adds for it at the registers and at the gas pumps.

 

[akash.nu]

Whereas in my area, I'm the only person I ever saw use Apple Pay, I would often ask at places "Does this support Apple Pay?" and get "I don't know" for a response, and a couple places even referred to me as "the watch guy" because I paid with my watch. I can't count the number of times I got a "Wow! Is that cool!" reaction when I used it. No, I don't live in the sticks.

Lol. Really have to ask, where do you live?!

I’m in Greece right now and been living in the history since last weekend. Just reading your message made me feel like a man from the future.

 

[Maury]

That is not true either. You can double click it in your pocked if you want to activate the payment, really no different, and you don't have to bring it up for Face ID, Face ID works just fine from an angle.

Like at Timmies and McDs where the reader is on the end of a stick and its above my face?

Or when the reader is bolted to the counter behind a plexiglass barrier with a hole in it?

Or at the LCBO where the reader is vertical at the base of the unit which is at waist height?

It does not work in any of these situations, or 80% of the others where I have tried it.

 

[jseymour]

It's the mid size but not super popular chains that haven't caught up.

Not true. Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe's all don't handle Apple Pay. And Home Depot, at least in my area, just upgraded all their PoS terminals.

Rumor has it it's because they want to track your purchase habits/history and can't do that with Apple Pay.

 

[remington79]

Not true. Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe's all don't handle Apple Pay. And Home Depot, at least in my area, just upgraded all their PoS terminals.

Rumor has it it's because they want to track your purchase habits/history and can't do that with Apple Pay.

It’s possible and I wouldn’t doubt it. I heard one of the reasons Bass Pro Shops bought Cabelas was to get access to all of the Cabelas credit card accounts.

 

[jimmysalg]

It’s possible and I wouldn’t doubt it. I heard one of the reasons Bass Pro Shops bought Cabelas was to get access to all of the Cabelas credit card accounts.

......interesting thing. I frequent this small restaurant chain that has a reward program that is tied to "your credit card", however I use Apple Pay each time I go, and it still pulls up my account with no problem. Now, note that I used "Apple Pay" to sign up originally. So I wonder even though apple pay has "tokenization" if it still can track an unique "ID" or something? If this is true, then those big retailers would still be able to track you?

 

[jseymour]

I heard one of the reasons Bass Pro Shops bought Cabelas was to get access to all of the Cabelas credit card accounts.

I suppose that, in addition to getting Cabelas' customers, that would be an added benefit.

If this is true, then those big retailers would still be able to track you?

I suppose so. I really do not know. That's why I wrote it as "rumor has it."

The issue is moot, for me, now, but I found it annoying in the past.

 

[MisterSavage]

......interesting thing. I frequent this small restaurant chain that has a reward program that is tied to "your credit card", however I use Apple Pay each time I go, and it still pulls up my account with no problem. Now, note that I used "Apple Pay" to sign up originally. So I wonder even though apple pay has "tokenization" if it still can track an unique "ID" or something? If this is true, then those big retailers would still be able to track you?

If you go into your wallet settings and look at a credit card you'll see a "device account number". That's doesn't change and is what you give merchants when you want a refund sometimes. I wonder if that's how they did it.

 

[jimmysalg]

If you go into your wallet settings and look at a credit card you'll see a "device account number". That's doesn't change and is what you give merchants when you want a refund sometimes. I wonder if that's how they did it.

Yes I thought the same thing!

 

[macsound1]

Not true. Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe's all don't handle Apple Pay. And Home Depot, at least in my area, just upgraded all their PoS terminals.

Rumor has it it's because they want to track your purchase habits/history and can't do that with Apple Pay.

What I was getting at is that small shops have no issue offering apple pay because they don't have enormous overhead to change out their POS system.

Mid size companies probably can't afford to change their entire infrastructure of registers, inventory systems, and credit card readers.
Large companies have odd choices all over the place with cash registers.
Like whole foods, why put an extra screen with a barcode reader under it for me to scan my phone's barcode? The icon that pops up to show I scanned successfully is so small, the checker has to always tell me it worked anyway, so why not them just use the scanner gun that was already installed?

 

[tmiw]

What I was getting at is that small shops have no issue offering apple pay because they don't have enormous overhead to change out their POS system.

Mid size companies probably can't afford to change their entire infrastructure of registers, inventory systems, and credit card readers.
Large companies have odd choices all over the place with cash registers.
Like whole foods, why put an extra screen with a barcode reader under it for me to scan my phone's barcode? The icon that pops up to show I scanned successfully is so small, the checker has to always tell me it worked anyway, so why not them just use the scanner gun that was already installed?

I mean, most larger stores use the same few terminal models from Verifone and Ingenico. And those all have the hardware for NFC, too, so it's not that they just didn't bother buying the NFC capable ones when we moved to chip over the last half-decade or so.

That's not to say that there aren't complications on the software side, of course. There are a lot of places that absolutely insist on customizing their POS/terminal integration (or even the software on the terminal itself), which of course potentially means significant software development effort on top of what was done for chip. Combined with the already long-standing dislike of the card networks that has simmered in the background and the still low use of contactless payment in the US, I'm not surprised some are still thinking that they're better off focusing on other things instead.

(BTW, I suspect we're mostly going to be a "card not present" country in the end. That is, most stuff being purchased through the retailer's app or website, typically for pickup at the store and/or delivery. We'll never have 100% of spending being done online, of course, but that share might end up small enough or distributed in such a way where less than 100% NFC acceptance might not be as much of a showstopper.)

 

[curmudgeonette]

Seven years after Apple Pay launched in September 2014, 93.9 percent of consumers with Apple Pay activated on their iPhone do not use it to pay for in-store purchases, meaning that only 6.1 percent do.

In March 2020 I hurriedly switched to a (new) iPhone SE-2016 hoping to use Apple Pay. I tried in two different grocery stores and couldn't get Apple Pay to work. I told the cashier. Waved my phone all over the payment terminals. Nothing happened. Both store chains had signs all over saying "contactless payment preferred." Two strikes and it's out - I didn't feel like trouble shooting.

There's a restaurant I frequent that allows paying the check on a website, i.e. in Safari, and I am able to use Apple Pay there. That means I did successfully link a card.

 

[macintologist]

Apple Pay on the Watch is much better than the iPhone where you have to do the silly FaceID thing. Double clicking the Watch button and then holding up to the payment panel is way faster and better.

 

[macintologist]

In March 2020 I hurriedly switched to a (new) iPhone SE-2016 hoping to use Apple Pay. I tried in two different grocery stores and couldn't get Apple Pay to work. I told the cashier. Waved my phone all over the payment terminals. Nothing happened. Both store chains had signs all over saying "contactless payment preferred." Two strikes and it's out - I didn't feel like trouble shooting.

There's a restaurant I frequent that allows paying the check on a website, i.e. in Safari, and I am able to use Apple Pay there. That means I did successfully link a card.

That's why you should use the Apple Watch. But seriously, you just put your phone in front of the payment terminal and then it just works.

 

[japasneezemonk]

The stats in this link are outdated but 6% of 500 million users who have activated is still a lot of people. That’s at least 30 million active Applepay users. Not a small number. I think Amex has something along the lines of +100 million cardholders. If applepay can stay on course it’s plausible they can grow to be much bigger.

 

[tmiw]

The stats in this link are outdated but 6% of 500 million users who have activated is still a lot of people. That’s at least 30 million active Applepay users. Not a small number. I think Amex has something along the lines of +100 million cardholders. If applepay can stay on course it’s plausible they can grow to be much bigger.

I've mentioned this before but PYMNTS seems to take even positive Apple Pay news and somehow tries to twist it to be a negative. Like, it's one thing to say that Apple Pay hasn't grown as fast as first predicted (which most of us can agree is true), but another thing to publish something about how a new Apple Pay feature might be "too little, too late" for it (as a recent-ish example I remember seeing).

What I still haven't figured out, though, is why. Typical clickbait-type tactics as done by a lot of other media, or are they biased towards some competing technology (e.g. QR, curbside pickup/online ordering, something akin to Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology)? In the end, I'm not sure it matters.

 

[curmudgeonette]

That's why you should use the Apple Watch.

Grrr, I don't wear watches...

But seriously, you just put your phone in front of the payment terminal and then it just works.

I've gotten Apple Pay to work at a limited number of merchants. However, it works one way at Whole Foods. A different way at Chipotle. And still doesn't work at Raley's/NobHill.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Typical clickbait-type tactics as done by a lot of other media

That one

 

[Shanghaichica]

What I am still trying to get to grips with is whether Apple Pay has any advantages for me. Now you throw Google Pay into the mix.

But what you haven't done is let us know why you choose G over A.

I live in the UK and most shops accept contactless payments which in turn means they accept Apple Pay and google pay. It’s so widely accepted. I went to th circus bought snacks for my kids using my Apple Watch. So in terms of availability in the UK, mobile payments are widely available and If Apple Pay is accepted them so is google pay and vice Versa. However in some of the stores they have removed the contactless limit for Apple Pay but it is still capped for Google Pay. Additionally, some websites support Apple Pay but not Google Pay.

 

[polyphenol]

I live in the UK and most shops accept contactless payments which in turn means they accept Apple Pay and google pay. It’s so widely accepted. I went to th circus bought snacks for my kids using my Apple Watch. So in terms of availability in the UK, mobile payments are widely available and If Apple Pay is accepted them so is google pay and vice Versa. However in some of the stores they have removed the contactless limit for Apple Pay but it is still capped for Google Pay. Additionally, some websites support Apple Pay but not Google Pay.

I'm also in the UK. But the only place I have been aware of taking Apple Pay has been Lidl! They have some sort of a logo somewhere. Other than Apple, I don't remember seeing it mentioned as an option on any websites either! Might well be all over the pace - but I must have missed it if it is.

(I've not yet used Apple Pay but it is set up on my iPhone and iPad.)

 

[iLondoner]

I'm also in the UK. But the only place I have been aware of taking Apple Pay has been Lidl! They have some sort of a logo somewhere. Other than Apple, I don't remember seeing it mentioned as an option on any websites either! Might well be all over the pace - but I must have missed it if it is.

(I've not yet used Apple Pay but it is set up on my iPhone and iPad.)

Well you ought to try using it. Anywhere that accepts contactless in the UK now accepts Apple Pay with no restrictions on high values. I don't use credit cards at all; I use Apple Pay on my watch for ALL contactless payments—fuel stations, supermarkets, restaurants, whatever. At one point during the pandemic when paper/coin money was not being accepted I went two or three months without bothering to take my wallet (billfold) with me as everything was contactless via Apple Pay.

 

[polyphenol]

Well you ought to try using it. Anywhere that accepts contactless in the UK now accepts Apple Pay with no restrictions on high values. I don't use credit cards at all; I use Apple Pay on my watch for ALL contactless payments—fuel stations, supermarkets, restaurants, whatever. At one point during the pandemic when paper/coin money was not being accepted I went two or three months without bothering to take my wallet (billfold) with me as everything was contactless via Apple Pay.

I might do! But I pretty much never even think about doing so. I can use a contactless card without even fully opening my wallet - mostly.

All the fuel stations round here require card to be put into slot.

 

[iLondoner]

The stats in this link are outdated but 6% of 500 million users who have activated is still a lot of people. That’s at least 30 million active Applepay users. Not a small number. I think Amex has something along the lines of +100 million cardholders. If applepay can stay on course it’s plausible they can grow to be much bigger.

The stats on that site are hilariously implausible, for example, "The UK topped Apple Pay transactions in 2021, with 63% of people using it at least once in stores or restaurants." That would be over 42 million Apple Pay customers in the UK? Don't make me laugh.

 

[I7guy]

So they based their study on approximately 3700 respondents. Possible they are way, way off.

 

[Coochie Boogs]

Seems surprising to me, I use it all the time, but that is just me. I can see how people could forget or still be intimidated by it in the day to day flow. Muscle memory for pulling out the card.