In the era of the development of mobile payments, IT companies come up with more and more convenient and fast ways for their users to part with money. So, Apple has developed a new payment system that allows you to pay for purchases in offline stores and the Internet using a smartphone or computer. Apple has managed to rethink our wallets and bank cards, carefully and safely “folding” them into our smartphones. As you already understood, the article will focus on this particular payment system. What is Apple Pay? How it works? How to set up Apple Pay? And why is it needed at all?
System requirements
Before you set up Apple Pay on your iPhone or Apple Watch, make sure your devices support this technology. The following smartphones are suitable for these purposes:
- iPhone 5 (if connected to Apple Watch);
- iPhone 5s (if connected to Apple Watch);
- iPhone 6 (and Plus version);
- iPhone 6s (and Plus version);
- iPhone SE (2016 and 2017);
- iPhone 7 (and Plus version).
If you have a smart watch from Apple, then any iPhone, starting with the fifth model, is suitable for setting up Apple Pay.
Banks supporting the payment system
The appearance of such a novelty would certainly have been accompanied by cooperation with regional banks. Fortunately, our banks quite warmly accepted the appearance of Apple Pay in the country. Do you know who was the first to connect to the new payment system? Sberbank Apple Pay came to the taste of even this orthodox bank, to say nothing of others.
Naturally, the list of supported banks includes:
- Tinkoff Bank;
- GAZPROMBANK;
- Otkritie Group (together with Rocketbank);
- "VTB 24";
- "Alfa Bank";
- Plus electronic payment service Yandex.Money.
A full list of banks can be found on the official website of the payment system, the restrictions that apply to certain cards are also indicated there. Some banks support MasterCard, but for some reason refuse to serve Visa.
How to set up Apple Pay? Instruction manual
All iPhones and Apple Watch are preloaded with the Wallet app. We will need it to work with the payment system. We open it, click on the “Add Card” button and enter your card information in the window that appears (if you want to use the one you already use for shopping in iTunes, just select this sub-item and proceed with the verification by the bank). Next, check your card. This usually takes no more than a minute. Some banks require personal confirmation or confirmation using an SMS code.
Do not forget that to work with the payment system you will need a card that supports contactless payments, that is, one that has the PayPass or PayWave logo (well, and the NFC chip, respectively).
How to pay with Apple Pay in stores and metro?
If all the previous stages of preparation are completed, then you can go shopping. We go to the store and find the terminal we need there (it should be a terminal that accepts payments via NFC). Put your finger on the fingerprint scanner, and hold the phone 2 centimeters from the terminal itself. Apple Pay is activated automatically and will make the payment.
After a few seconds, a green checkmark on the screen of your smartphone will light up, confirming the successful operation. If you have several cards attached and you usually pay through VTB 24, and now you need Sberbank, Apple Pay offers the opportunity to choose a card before purchase. To do this, double-click on the "Home" button and select the default card. If you are planning a trip on the subway and set up Apple Pay on the Apple Watch, it would be very helpful to use them to pay for the trip. You don’t even need to take the phone out of your pocket, just double-click the keys on the watch case and turn the watch “face” to the payment terminal.
How to pay with Apple Pay on the Internet and applications?
An important feature of Apple Pay, in comparison with other services, is the ability to make purchases on the Internet and third-party applications. This is also done simply:
- We find a program or website that supports a payment system;
- choose a payment method using the "apple" payment system (usually a big black button with an apple);
- enter the delivery and billing address;
- Confirm the purchase using Touch ID.
Purchases can be made not only from the phone, but also from the computer, however, the confirmation of the purchase still occurs on the smartphone, since not all Apple computers are equipped with a fingerprint scanner.
Payment Security
What is Apple Pay? This is the safest wallet in the world. Apple devices, like all the technologies involved in them, have always been surprising in their level of security. It is simply impossible to penetrate the iOS operating system and steal data from it. Apple didn’t even think of this, so they developed a special tokenization system when your card data is stored on the phone and transmitted to the terminal in encrypted form (instead of a card or account number, a set of numbers is transmitted). This greatly improves the security of each individual payment.
At the same time, data cannot be stolen physically, as is the case with ordinary NFC cards. If you bring a portable payment terminal to a standard card, the card will automatically pay for the purchase and will not require any confirmation. The phone, in any case, will require verification using Touch ID, which means that no one except you can spend money using your smartphone.
Impressions, reviews, discounts
Russian users reacted to the new technology quickly enough and immediately began to test it with might and main. A lot of posts about the new payment system instantly appeared on the Internet. Some did not immediately figure out how to set up Apple Pay, and therefore became angry on the Web, until they finally managed to keep up with the progress and studied the instructions thoroughly.
The company literally forced many users to try Apple Pay, having launched a large-scale advertising campaign with discounts and bonuses from various stores and cafes. Free movie tickets, half-burgers, and a subway discount did the trick. A huge audience of users at least once, but resorted to using Apple Pay, thereby provoking an unprecedented increase in the popularity of this technology. Most of all, the novelty scared sellers. This, in particular, affected small shops where no one instructed, and each purchase from the phone seemed like some kind of scary magic or fraud. A year later, the situation changed dramatically, and such excesses do not occur. Everyone is used to it. And they are so used to it that they are unlikely to want to refuse. Users of the payment system are seriously attached to this technology and are unlikely to imagine life without it.
Instead of a conclusion
As you can see, Apple Pay is easy. It is even simple, very interesting and convenient. A new approach to making payments will definitely change the world in the near future, if not already changed. Soon, Apple plans to introduce the ability to transfer funds from device to device using a special virtual Apple Cash account, and this is clearly not the last step in the development of the service. Perhaps Apple will completely want to become a bank and offer to store funds in its accounts.
Now that you know how to set up and use Apple Pay, it's time to personally try it in practice.