Apple Pay not working? Here’s how to fix it

If you own an iPhone or other Apple device, there’s a good chance you use Apple Pay. There’s a lot to like about Apple Pay: It gives us a secure way to pay for things online, and the ability to tap and pay with our phones has eliminated the need to carry a wallet full of credit cards or cash when we’re out and walk. Thanks to Apple Pay and similar services, paying for things has become in many ways as easy as sending a quick message to a friend.

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Once you’ve set up Apple Pay across all your devices, you probably think you can sit back and forget about it. And while that’s often true, every now and then there’s a hiccup and it stops working. Unfortunately, when this happens, a good day can turn bad pretty quickly, especially if you’re on the go and don’t have an alternative way to pay for your purchases. After all, no one likes having their payment method rejected when they’re at the cashier trying to pay for coffee or groceries. As annoying as this situation can be, the good news is that there is almost always a fix that will get Apple Pay up and running again.

Before diving into more complicated troubleshooting, the first thing you’ll want to do is double-check to see if the point-of-sale terminal you’re trying to use supports Apple Pay. While almost all smartphones and many smartwatches produced today support NFC mobile payments, not all vendors have caught up with the technology. This means there will be times when you want to make a purchase with Apple Pay and can’t. Even major retailers like Walmart don’t accept Apple Pay.

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If you don’t see the Apple Pay logo on or near the point of sale terminal you plan to use, that’s your first clue that it doesn’t accept Apple Pay. You can still try holding your phone near the terminal to see if it becomes unresponsive. If not, ask someone working in the store to see if they accept Apple Pay. If you check Apple Maps, you’ll sometimes be able to identify nearby stores that accept Apple Pay, saving you a trip to a store that doesn’t support this payment method.

However, if you have confirmed that the point of sale supports Apple Pay and you cannot get it to work, or you receive one of the following error messages: could not add card, invalid card or card unit limit, contact your bank or the company that issued your credit card. If you’re traveling abroad and experiencing problems with Apple Pay, check out this Apple support page to confirm that it is supported in the region you are visiting.

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If you’ve confirmed that the vendor supports Apple Pay and it’s still not working, your next step should be to check Apple’s system status page to see if the service is down. Sometimes the problem is not with Apple Pay, but with Apple’s servers. Apple Pay is an online system that relies on Apple’s servers to process transactions. If there is an error, your payment will not go through – no matter what you do.

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Although Apple Pay servers don’t go down often, it can happen and is completely unrelated to your iPhone. As a result, there is nothing you can do but wait until the system is backed up to use Apple Pay. If you see a green circle next to Apple Pay and Wallet on the Apple System Status page, it’s working properly. But if the circle is yellow or red, you’re stuck—Apple is probably already working on it. In this case, you must use another payment method or be prepared to wait.

Whether you use Apple Wallet and Pay on your Apple Watch or iPhone, it will use the card you set as your default card when you try to pay at a payment terminal. As you can imagine, if the card doesn’t work, your payment won’t go through. There can be a number of reasons why your default payment method isn’t working. For example, your debit card may have expired without you realizing it, or your bank may have flagged a transaction as suspicious and temporarily blocked it.

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Whatever the case may be, there is a solution if you have more than one debit or credit card linked to your Apple Wallet. All you have to do is choose another card and pay with it. You can do this by opening the Wallet app on your iPhone or Apple Watch and tapping the card you want to use. Once you’ve done this, try making the payment again. Unless something else is causing the problem, the transaction should go through.

Sometimes a temporary error can prevent Apple Pay from working properly. Apple Card users have reported issues when trying to use Apple Pay’s tap-to-pay feature at point-of-sale terminals in retail stores where the terminal does not recognize their iPhone. You can often resolve these types of issues by temporarily signing out of your Apple ID and restarting your iPhone or Apple Watch. While it may seem like a basic fix, restarting your phone can remove temporary bugs or errors with the system software. When you restart your device, you give iOS a clean slate to start from, including the background processes that handle Apple Pay. Follow these steps to restart your iPhone:

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1. Press and hold the side button and either the volume up or volume down button until you see the power off slider.
2. Slide the power button to the right and wait 30 seconds for your iPhone to turn off.
3. Press and hold the side button on the right side of your phone until you see the Apple logo to restart your device.

If you’re still having issues after restarting your phone, try signing out and back into your Apple ID to see if that fixes them. Doing this can resolve any lingering authentication or sync issues and update your account’s connection to Apple Pay. Follow these steps to sign out and back into your Apple ID:

1. Open the settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap your name at the top of the screen.
3. Scroll down and tap Sign out.
4. Restart your iPhone.
5. Go back to settings and sign in to your Apple ID.

After completing these steps, try using Apple Pay again. Remember that these steps take a few minutes, so if you need to pay for something right away, you should use another payment method.

When you update or restart your iPhone, the message “Apple Pay Issue Detected” may appear on the screen. If you get this message, you won’t be able to use Apple Pay or Wallet until you reinstall iOS on your iPhone. some cards in your wallet may still work, although you won’t be able to make purchases with Apple Pay. You’ll need a computer to fix this problem, so if it happens while you’re on the go, it’s best to use. another form of payment.

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Follow these steps to fix the ‘Apple Pay Problem Detected’ message:

1. Back up your iPhone to your Mac or PC or iCloud if you haven’t already.

2. Connect your iPhone to a computer running the latest version of macOS, iTunes, or Apple devices.
3. If you’re using a Mac with macOS Catalina or later, open a Finder window.
4. If you’re using a Mac macOS Mojave or earlier, open iTunes.
5. If you’re using a Windows PC, open iTunes or Apple devices.
6. If the “Trust this computer” prompt appears on your iPhone, unlock it and tap Trust.
7. Select your iPhone in the Finder, Apple Devices, or iTunes.
8. In Finder or Apple devices: Click General, or in iTunes: Click Summary.
9. On a Mac: Hold down the Command key and click Check for Update.
10. On a Windows PC: Hold down the Ctrl key and click Check for update.
11. Click Download and Update, then follow the on-screen instructions.

After completing these steps, your computer will download and reinstall the latest version of the software for your iPhone. Make sure to keep your device connected until everything has been downloaded.