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Walmart Still Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in the U.S. in 2026, Here's Why

Madmic23 said:
I laugh every time a USA payment story comes up. If you go to most restaurants there, they still take your card and walk away from the table with it, and then come back with a piece of paper for you to sign. Just bring a wireless debit/credit machine to the table and let me add the tip and pay with tap or by entering my chip and pin. It feels like going back in time.
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I was in New Zealand back in 2014, and remember a waitress bringing the credit card reader to me at the table. As an American, I felt like I was on ****ing Star Trek. 😛 😛

It's gotten a lot better over the years, bit I travel worldwide on a regular basis now and it blows my mind how behind we still are.
 
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For now it works but when tapping becomes the norm I think they will overall loose out based on convenience.
 
Their reasoning hasn’t changed, and if they want to continue not acceptingNFC payments, they can … best answer is to vote with your wallet.
But, Walmarts are always crowded, you can’t just beat their prices. I go once maybe twice per month to get packaged food, eg cereal or pasta and such, way cheaper than any grocery store. Never buy produce. And for me, they have other customer-unfriendly things going on, eg I have to pay in-store for eg liquid soap or shampoo and then for the rest at the main checkout, for me that just doesn’t work so I get other stuff at Target even if it is a bit more expensive …
 
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munpip214 said:
In general, I’m not a fan of what the EU is putting tech companies through, but in this case, I would not mind seeing the US force Walmart to accept it.
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Walmart still accepts credit cards, just not with NFC. If Walmart wants to do this and hurt their sales, that's their problem.

And like what jz0309 says, vote with you wallet.
jz0309 said:
Their reasoning hasn’t changed, and if they want to continue not acceptingNFC payments, they can … best answer is to vote with your wallet.
But, Walmarts are always crowded, you can’t just beat their prices. I go once maybe twice per month to get packaged food, eg cereal or pasta and such, way cheaper than any grocery store. Never buy produce. And for me, they have other customer-unfriendly things going on, eg I have to pay in-store for eg liquid soap or shampoo and then for the rest at the main checkout, for me that just doesn’t work so I get other stuff at Target even if it is a bit more expensive …
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Station Grey said:
As someone from the UK, I read this article with genuine interest and mild shock. Not sure I've paid with anything other than my phone for anything for years now.

The only exception I can think of is my cleaner, so we have to remember every few weeks to get cash out of the machine with a card!
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Sure but doesn’t UK still have silly tap to pay limits and PIN verifications? That would drive me more furious than not being able to use Apple Pay at one random store that is also mostly avoidable for many.
 
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Over the last couple of years, using Apple Pay to withdraw cash from the cash machine while on holiday in Spain has been such a game-changer! Considering how quickly contactless payments have become the norm in the UK, I’m a bit surprised that our cash machines haven’t been updated to support this.
 
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Every time I hear about Walmart, I’m reminded of the website “People of Walmart”. I couldn’t find it anymore, it must have died.
 
I'm sure I'm in the minority, but this is the main reason I generally avoid Walmart, shopping there only when I have no other choice. I'm also not fond of the fact that in our town, Walmart helped shut down a lot of small locally-owned businesses that Walmart saw as competition.
 
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I stopped shopping at Walmart for a few reasons, this is one of them. Target is so much better all around. I also go to Lowes instead of Home Depot, payment being one of the many issues. I think these companies believe the type of payments accepted isn't a big deal to most, but I don't think they realize how many customers they're losing. Costco is the only place where I'll deal with their payment "partner" that changes every 5-10 years (they have gone been AmEx, Visa, Mastercard and even Discover).
 
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mlody said:
Sure but doesn’t UK still have silly tap to pay limits and PIN verifications? That would drive me more furious than not being able to use Apple Pay at one random store that is also mostly avoidable for many.
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Card tap to pay limit is £100. As I understand it will occasionally/randomly ask for a PIN. There's no limit or pin requirement for apple pay
 
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BGPL said:
I stopped shopping at Walmart for a few reasons, this is one of them. Target is so much better all around. I also go to Lowes instead of Home Depot, payment being one of the many issues. I think these companies believe the type of payments accepted isn't a big deal to most, but I don't think they realize how many customers they're losing. Costco is the only place where I'll deal with their payment "partner" that changes every 5-10 years (they have gone been AmEx, Visa, Mastercard and even Discover).
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Home Depot accepts Apple Pay and other NFC payments, I was just there last week.
dmr727 said:
Don't think you're in the minority - I don't think anyone actually shops there by choice. 😉
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I know I don't 😂. I avoid it as much as I can. I don't know about other Walmarts, but the 1 by me, the parking lot is a maze and a pain to get out.
 
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MacRumors said:
Apple Pay has a lot of privacy protections, including hiding actual credit card numbers, and this would make it harder for Walmart to track customers.
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Apple putting a static number as a proxy is a security measure , not a privacy measure. If the customer using the same Apple Pay charge number to consistently to by stuff, then the profile gets built. That number is just no 'good' unless connected to an Apple device. The retailers also gets some assurance that you are the proper user of that card.

If you are buying stuff at Walmart there is no hiding from Walmart what you bought. Walmart doesn't 'know' where the money is coming from to pay for what you bought, but they just scanned all of the items you bought. Apple Pay does diddly squat about hiding that. The bank who backs the card might not know, but it is Walmart's stuff until you pay for it.
 
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