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

i use it, but there are so many places that don't take Apple Pay that it's not as convenient as it could be.
 
coachgq said:
I'm able to leave my wallet at home almost everywhere I go, as soon as my license can be stored, I'm wallet free. If a place doesn't take apple pay, I'll go somewhere else. Big companies should have no problem implementing contactless payment and small business can use square. If food trucks can make it work, Walmart should be able to also.
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Wal-mart doesn't want to make it work. They want to track your purchases in their app, that's why they added Wal-mart pay.
 
polyphenol said:
I almost never turn the lights on in my, or partner's, cars. They just come on automatically. Depending on light level, use of wipers or whatever else the vehicles deem appropriate. But daylight running lights are on if the headlamps are not. So there is always some external light.

If I turned them on all the time, I'd actually have to switch them off when I stop. That is far too much to think about.
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Driver of a 30 year old car here. I’m automated! I don’t even have to think about it. I’ve been doing the same with my headlights for 30 years now so I’d imagine it’s also ingrained for the person you’re talking to.

I do have a newer vehicle that does have automated headlights, too. I’m fortunate my brain still has the flexibility to adapt whichever car I’m driving.
 
RemedyRabbit said:
Why has the US been so much slower to adopt contactless payment than other western countries? Is it a trust thing?
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A few reasons, I think:
  • Contactless payment with cards is really not a thing here, as it is in Europe. I think only two of my CCs have contactless and one of them has literally never worked. Another one of my cards had it but discontinued it.
  • Chip card rollout was very late here, and the pre-chip terminals didn't support contactless in most cases
  • There's no consumer advantage to using contactless here — the only difference in the transaction is not sticking a card into a slot. We don't use chip+pin, just chip+signature.
  • All three of the last items tie back to liability — in the US the consumer is never responsible for fraudulent charges. In a lot of cases liability falls on the retailer — hence even chip terminals weren't rolled out widely until the banks increased fees for those not using them.

vip007 said:
Of course, this is tightly linked to the CC interchange fees, which are much higher in the States than in Europe/UK. So most small merchants are less likely to accept CCs in general in the US.
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This probably should be true but isn't — very rare to run into a store in the US that doesn't accept credit cards, these days.
 
Wow! In Canada, probably reverse : 95% use it, 5% doesn't. All people I know use it all the time, and even the people with Android, they use the Android Pay/Samsung Pay too all the time!
 
The problem I see is a lot of credit card readers that show wireless payment either lock it down to prevent it from being used or they have a policy like Kroger that only allows their own wireless payment method.
 
polyphenol said:
If I turned them on all the time, I'd actually have to switch them off when I stop. That is far too much to think about.
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You're mistaking doing for thinking. They're not the same. Decisions take thought. Actions do not.

When I turn my car on I turn on my lights. When I turn my car off I turn off my lights.

Always.

That's the purest form of 'not thinking' I know of. It's just instinct and does not impede on my conscious thoughts at all.
 
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GrumpyMom said:
This has been my experience as well. I use Apple Pay online almost everywhere it’s an option.

But my initial attempts to get comfortable with Apple Pay in stores hit some roadblocks, namely the great awkwardness that arose when attempting to use it and finding out the hard way it wouldn’t work. There are many stores I frequent where I still have to actually insert the card to get read at all. When I was shopping during vacation I actually had to use the stripe reader a few times!

I do think sheer “muscle memory” does play a role in the awkwardness I feel, too. The instinct to wield the card is hardwired into me at this point so there’s always that little awkward moment when I remember my Apple Pay, know it’s accepted, but then try to remember what I’m supposed to do to execute it properly.

Oddly, I used to use Samsung Pay a lot. It once had acceptance on older stripe readers and so usually worked when I wanted to use it. I got the chance to develop an instant rapport with it. But now Samsung has removed the compatibility with stripe readers so it’s in the same boat with Apple Pay. I stopped using it.

I think there was a point I could have developed more grace with Apple Pay, but too many failed attempts when I was trying to get comfortable using it put me off for the long term.

My husband has perfect grace using Apple Pay and can’t understand why I don’t.
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I've used Apple Pay since launch and use it in multiple countries regularly with both UK and US accounts. Never had it not work for me. I find it's more reliable than my normal cards where I've on occasion had a chip fail to read.
 
So far, I have used Apple Pay just once. For car parking - £1.50 or thereabouts.

I set it up when I got my new phone last year, but never think to use it. I can pay contactless one-handed, indeed, left-handed, by drawing my wallet out of my pocket, flipping the card-holder flap, and waving somewhere near the reader. I rarely need to pay more that £45 in a transaction. And the lowest-cost petrol stations near me do not support Apple Pay.

Maybe I am missing something really obvious, but I don't see a significant advantage to me in switching to use of Apple Pay.
 
You'd be amazed how many people ask in an Apple store if they can pay with Apple Pay... yes, you read that right, in an Apple store!
 
MacRumors said:


Only six percent of iPhone users in the United States who have Apple Pay set up actually use the feature, according to a detailed study by PYMNTS.

Apple-Pay-Feature.jpg

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 2015, the year following Apple Pay's launch, PYMNTS found that Apple Pay usage was just 5.1 percent among those that had the feature activated. This means that Apple Pay usage has only increased by one percentage point in six years.

The growth of Apple Pay in this time may be attributed to more contactless terminals in stores and more users having iPhone models with an NFC coil to facilitate Apple Pay, rather than increased usage. Since 2015, the total amount of Apple Pay transactions at U.S. retail stores has increased from an estimated $5 billion to $90 billion this year.

In 2015, 19 percent of U.S. merchants were able to accept contactless payments, but in 2021, this rose to 70 percent. Likewise, in 2015, only 36 percent of consumers had an iPhone that offered Apple Pay, but now 96 percent of users have access to the feature. Apple Pay support from banks has also ballooned. This has all led to the number of Apple Pay transactions growing overall, but it is still unused by the vast majority of those that have the feature enabled.

The main reason behind the lack of usage may be attributed to the continued dominance of plastic cards. In addition, in the time since Apple Pay's launch, banks have issued an increasing number of contactless debit and credit cards, which most users have preferred to Apple Pay. According to PYMNTS, Apple has struggled to persuade users that Apple Pay is valuable enough to replace the more familiar plastic card, which does not require additional button presses and authentication steps such as Touch ID or Face ID.

"But to be successful, innovation must solve a problem, fix a source of friction or improve an experience that is so painful that consumers or businesses are motivated to switch," the report explained. The study suggested two options for Apple to bolster Apple Pay usage:

Nevertheless, of the various mobile wallets, such as Samsung Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal, Apple Pay has generally been the most popular with a 45.5 percent share of mobile wallet users in 2021.

PYMNTS's findings are based on a study of 3,671 respondents in the United States between August 3 and August 10, 2021 and identical studies from previous years.

Article Link: Survey: Only 6% of U.S. iPhone Users Who Set Up Apple Pay Actually Use It
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I’d love to use it more, just not all of the places I shop utilize it effectively. Gas stations that use it are awesome!
 
You must question the source's ability to get the numbers right. I have a feeling, they are using a lot of guess work.
 
To be honest, I see a lot of people with iPhones just tap the physical card instead, so the infrastructure is there, its just they're using what's easier for them. For me, that would be Apple Pay. For my grandparents, tapping the card is good, better than them inserting every time.
 
Small White Car said:
You're mistaking doing for thinking. They're not the same. Decisions take thought. Actions do not.

When I turn my car on I turn on my lights. When I turn my car off I turn off my lights.

Always.

That's the purest form of 'not thinking' I know of. It's just instinct and does not impede on my conscious thoughts at all.
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That bit of my reply was meant to be somewhat light-hearted. But the switching between cars does mean that I have to think how to switch them on and off. The switching postions, etc., are very different. Maybe others wouldn't need to think.
 
robvalentine said:
I mainly used it because getting my phone out of my pocket was easier than rooting around in my wallet. however mask wearing makes that a PITA so I have reverted to using card. I'm in the UK and I can't believe that only 70% of US merchants are set up for contactless...
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Blame Walmart, and Kroger, they both try to redirect people to use their own much more worse versions of mobile payment systems.
 
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dguisinger said:
FaceID sucks when you are wearing a mask. Guess where people wear masks? At the store where they make payments.
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There are plenty of people I see with Apple Watches on who could have used those to make the payments, but then instead pull out their card....UGGGGHHH!!! And then they don't even tap the card, the insert the chip!
 
That is dumbfounding but makes sense. I don’t think my brother, wife, or sister in law use it. I am pretty sure if my parents switched to iPhones they wouldn’t. It is so easy and secure though it amazes me.
 
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