Apple brings Tap to Pay to the UK, you can now accept payments with your iPhone

After launching in the US last year, Apple’s Tap to Pay is now rolling out in the UK. The feature allows iPhones to serve as mobile point of sales terminals for merchants and only requires a supporting mobile app to set up. Merchants will be able to accept digital wallet, credit and debit card payments on their iPhones without any additional hardware.

Merchants need an iPhone XS or newer to use Tap to Pay and will also have to download and set up a supported payment app from the App Store. The payment platform will initially work with Revolut and Tyl by Natwest payment platforms and is coming to Apple Store locations across the UK in the coming weeks. Support for Adyen, Dojo, myPOS, Stripe, SumUp, Viva Wallet, Worldline and Zettle by PayPal is coming later.

We’ve seen Tap to Pay on iPhone transform the checkout experience for so many different types of businesses, and we’re thrilled to now support merchants across the U.K. by offering an easy, secure, and private way to accept contactless payments using the power, security, and convenience of iPhone, with no additional hardware needed.

Small and medium-sized businesses have long played a vital role in the U.K. economy, and alongside payment platforms, app developers, and payment networks, we’re making it easier than ever for U.K. businesses to seamlessly accept contactless payments and continue to grow their business. - Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet

Once set up by merchants, Tap to Pay will accept NFC payments from customers via a tap. Apple is boasting the same payment data protection as Apple Pay with Secure Element encryption. Specific transaction data on what is being purchased is not shared with Apple.

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Reader comments

  • Trooper

Some banks (Barclays specifically) offer the option to disable (and limit) all contactless payments and still allow PIN entry payment for their cards via their banking app. I've lowered the limit for contactless payments to £10 on my cards, and ...

  • I Just Read

What Apple are offering is essentially nothing but exclusivity nothing else As already stated POS terminals use NFC and here in the UK £100 is the maximum amount you can authorise and then it becomes Chip and Pin (digressing a little multiple c...

  • Lst

Dont know about UK but US just started with nfc debit cards like year or two ago. I was shocked when I realized that my wifes bank of america card is chip only and valid until 2024. So yea some countries need to catch-up