How to Accept Apple Pay: A 2026 Guide for Small Businesses
Most businesses should accept Apple Pay these days. It makes the payments process easy for both you and the customer.
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Contactless payment services like Apple Pay speed up the payments process. Plus, they don't require a physical card. That way, if a customer forgets their wallet, they can still make a purchase. Fortunately, most point-of-sale (POS) systems today accept digital wallets like Apple Pay.
How to accept Apple Pay
1. Find a payment processor that works with Apple Pay
If you don't have a payment processor yet, it shouldn't be hard to find one that accepts Apple Pay. Here are some examples:
2. Set up the appropriate Apple Pay payment infrastructure
For online purchases: Activate Apple Pay and/or add a “Buy with Apple Pay” button to your checkout page. Your e-commerce website builder should have instructions on how to do that. See our explainer on how to accept payments online for more details.
For in-person purchases: Get a card reader that accepts contactless payments via near-field communication (NFC). Most credit card readers have this capability. You simply attach them to smartphones or tablets. Customers hold their phone, tablet or Apple Watch near the card reader to pay in person.
3. Train staff to help customers with Apple Pay
When customers user Apple Pay, their iPhones prompt them to authenticate their purchases. Typically, this is via Touch ID, Face ID or a passcode. Customers can also confirm payments on their Apple Watches. Regardless of what method they use, they shouldn't need to enter their card info manually.
If Apple Pay isn't working, make sure the customer is close enough to the card reader.
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What is Apple Pay?
Apple Pay is a service that lets you make card payments from mobile devices or Apple Watches. Customers approve payments through various methods. These include passcodes, Face ID or double-clicks on Apple Watch’s side button. Customers can use Apple Pay to make purchases both in person and online.
In-person Apple Pay transactions are contactless transactions. They use NFC technology to allow smartphones and card readers to communicate when they’re near each other.
What are the pros of accepting Apple Pay?
About 85% of retailers in the U.S. accept Apple Pay, according to Apple. That doesn’t mean your business has to jump on the bandwagon. But it's typically advantageous to offer it as a payment method. Here are some of the perks:
- Speed. Processing contactless transactions is usually 15 to 30 seconds quicker than processing them the traditional way. (This involves swiping a card and signing the receipt or entering a PIN). So let's say you process 100 transactions per day. That could cut 50 minutes of checkout time. This would help you move customers through the line more quickly and potentially even make more money.
- Security. Apple Pay tokenizes transactions. That means it replaces the card information with random numbers (a token). That way, the payment gets processed without using actual bank account details. This prevents hackers from extracting credit card information. Also, Apple Pay doesn’t store card numbers on phones or Apple servers. It doesn’t share card numbers with merchants either.
- Fees. Apple doesn't charge merchants for using Apple Pay. Businesses still pay fees to their card processors though. Read our credit card fees explainer to learn more about what types of costs to expect.
- Available internationally. Apple Pay works in more than 60 countries. If you sell to customers abroad, it could make sense to offer it as a payment method.
What are the cons of accepting Apple Pay?
Typically, the pros outweigh the cons here. But there are still some downfalls you should be aware of:
- Terminal upgrades. If your card terminals don’t accept contactless payments, you may need to buy new or upgrade your existing terminals.
- Consumer setup. Apple Pay is popular, but not everybody uses it. Some people may also be unaware of how to set it up on their phones and authenticate transactions. This could slow down checkout.
- Use limitations. Apple Pay is an Apple product. Therefore, customers with other types of phones or operating systems may not be able to use it. You might remedy this by supporting different types of digital wallet payments. These include Samsung Pay and Google Pay.
- Training. You may need to train your staff to troubleshoot Apple Pay checkout problems. The same goes for helping customers to find the option on their phones.
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