Why Walmart Still Doesn’t Support Apple Pay

In addition to the good points made above, I think another part of it is trying to drive people to the Walmart app to compete with Amazon.

I've mostly managed to avoid Walmart by purposely going to more specialized stores when possible, all of which of course accept whatever form of payment you have because they care about your business.

In the vast majority of America payments are actually not backwards anymore, waiters don't walk off with your credit card, etc. Essentially everywhere accepts contactless payment / Apple Pay / Android Pay / etc now except the specific large corporations like this which have purposely chosen not to.

Last time I checked Walmart Pay is also based on scanning a QR code, which also seems to be a specific choice for people whose phones don't support NFC but do have a camera. Which was arguably a reasonable tradeoff when it started, but is increasingly an unnecessary and inferior choice today.

"Which was arguably a reasonable tradeoff when it started, but is increasingly an unnecessary and inferior choice today."

I think QR code payments provide a better UX because it's clear what's happening and what you're expected to do. People know how to take pictures. It's much clearer than figuring out which settings to turn on and which part of the phone to hold to which part of the payment terminal.

But that does require a standard that works across different stores.

I bet the primary reason is a couple of stubborn people at key positions in Walmart, who actually never shop there themselves, and just hate Apple and Google.

Didn’t regulation force Apple to open up the NFC system so that in theory Walmart Pay can be as easy as Apple Pay (or is this one of those Europe-only entitements)?

Of course it is annoying you can’t have a choice to use Apple Pay

Here in Israel, a law was passed that all credit/debit card payment terminals must support contactless payment. It went into effect in 2021, and it went from unsupported anywhere to supported virtually everywhere in a matter of weeks. I haven't carried a wallet with me since then. Before, I remember using contactless payments in Europe a few years before. It's amazing how behind the times the US can be. There us no benefit to the consumer here, but since all politicians are corrupt in the US, no consumer-friendly law can really pass.

> I think QR code payments provide a better UX because it's clear what's happening and what you're expected to do. People know how to take pictures. It's much clearer than figuring out which settings to turn on and which part of the phone to hold to which part of the payment terminal.

You have to:

• Install the Walmart app
• Register an account
• Add your payment method (I've had this fail repeatedly while in the process of trying to checkout)
• Find Walmart Pay, which they keep moving (currently directly on the Services tab, but in the past it has been buried in subscreens)

Then at purchase:

• Scan the QR code
• Ensure the payment method you selected is actually selected (I've had this fail, too, where it charged the wrong card despite me absolutely selecting and confirming the correct card)
• Complete checkout (I'm not there right now; there may be more steps)

Versus Apple Pay:

• Open the (preinstalled) Wallet app
• Set up your card by holding it near the phone
• Complete any onboarding steps required by your card issuer (some more onerous than others, granted, but the "worst" I've seen is opening their app as well as confirming via text message code)

Then at purchase:

• Double-click the side button
• Select your card
• Hold it near the reader

Even for someone who "knows how to take a picture," how is the QR code flow possibly any simpler than Apple Pay?

> But that does require a standard that works across different stores.

How did CurrentC work out, then?

Regarding, @Léo's comment, two questions....

-- What if instead of losing your wallet that you no longer carry, you lose your iPhone? (Or whatever brand you are carrying.) Does that mean "Find My"? It feels like a washout in comparison to me. (But remember, I'm old school.)

-- Do you drive? Does this mean you no longer carry your driver license? And if all you need if a form of personal ID proof is your iPhone good enough?

@KevinSchumacher

Small point on Apple Pay - if you have a FaceID phone, you have to hold your phone up to your face and have it recognise you as part of the process.

With a TouchID phone, you just pull the phone out of your pocket, and your thumb is already on the home button, and tap the phone to the reader in one fluid motion. Wait for the haptic buzz, then back to your pocket. No side buttons, no holding it up to your face.

Have used cash less than 5 times in the past ~9 years.

TouchID phone will be pried out of my cold, dead hands.

Ironically in Australia where new tech is heavily early-adopted, and contactless payment was ubiquitous before ApplePay launched, there have recently been laws introduced to require businesses to accept cash.

>You have to:

Note that I said "but that does require a standard that works across different stores," so the first part of your response is moot.

>How did CurrentC work out, then?

No idea what that is. But where I live, people have the choice between NFC and QR codes, and everybody uses the latter.

It also has other advantages. It means sellers don't have to have payment terminals at all; they can just put up a printed QR code. And people can pay each other directly by scanning each other's QR code. Also, a nice side effect is that you can pay for others remotely (e.g. when your kids want to buy something, they send you a picture of the QR code).

@Dave:

If I lose the phone, it is locked and I can nuke it from remote with Apple’s tools. I can then add the same cards on a new phone.

Here in Israel, we have a national ID, like any proper country, so all I need is my ID number. Police and government can find the license and registration from ministry of transportation. The only ones asking to see an ID card that I can remember is when picking up packages in drop off points, and I just use a photo of the ID card.

It's long since I visited the US, but back in 2015 I was shocked by how backwards payments were, in San Fransisco of all places.

Back then I was used to put my Debit Card into a machine where I would enter my PIN and press OK. In SF I was expected to pay cash.

I guess that's why ppl find Apple Pay convenient. You had no alternative. This is how I pay in Sweden, the UK or Hungary

I bump my physical wallet against the terminal
every 10th time I'm asked for my PIN

done

There are a lot of reasons not to shop at Walmart. Not accepting Apple Pay is just one more for the list.

@Kristoffer, Unusual you couldn’t use your debit card and PIN in SF, as that was never a problem for me — international bank, perhaps? Fortunately, San Francisco even today requires businesses take cash (because not doing so is discriminatory against the unbanked (and I agree with this. Other American cities don’t have this requirement.))

If anyone’s interested, there’s some very interesting piece about how Wallets work, and the many ways they make money, and maybe some of that applies to what Walmart’s doing. There’s also mention of how Apple Pay’s Wallet makes money.
https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/the-business-of-wallets/

If I were Walmart (or some other large business), I’d be also look at building a nation-wide payment and balance-holding system (without quite being a bank) like a Venmo or PayPal. I’d save money on fees when people buy from me, but also make money in several other ways. “Stocks and flow”, both, per the article.

Finally, while I really enjoy using Apple Pay at the supermarket or web, I encourage folks to pay in cash when buying from small businesses. Paying cash instead of credit gives mom+pop folks ($0.30 + 3% of the purchase price in the USA) more money and starves the banks. Also, more privacy. Buying small items on plastic — a $1 pack of gum — can actually cost a business money after fees.