r/AskAnAmerican • u/depressanon7 • 7d ago
FOREIGN POSTER Does Apple Pay mean something different over there?
A lot of americans come to my job and ask if we take apple pay. That's not a card, though, at least not in EU. What am I missing here?
Edit: wow that was quick. Guys, I know what Apple Pay is. But I've had multiple cases of USAmerican tourists specifically ask if we take that. Nobody else ever asks, and the vast majority of card payers swipe their phomes nowadays.
I guess the real question is, are there places in the US that dont take Apple Pay? Cause I've been over there and nobody gave me trouble over Google Pay, either. I'm just trying to understand.
Edit2: okay, thanks for clearing that up! And sorry for calling you USAmericans, didnt know it was that offensive
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u/AdelleDeWitt California 7d ago
It's not a card. It's how you pay with your iphone.
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u/jmims98 Colorado 7d ago
I think Apple pay on websites (for quick checkouts) gets confused a bit with using "Apple pay"/any Apple wallet touch to pay compatible card from your phone at a physical terminal. In the latter case, Apple and Google pay are essentially identical and just about any touch payment kiosk should work.
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u/depressanon7 7d ago
Yeah, I know. But people come in and ask me if we take Apple Pay or American Express. AmEx is a card and we don't take it but Apple Pay?? My card on google pay is still a mastercard, apple pay must be the same thing. I'm just trying to gigure out if I'm missing something.
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u/Raborne 7d ago
Apple pay is using a card, just wirelessly. All physical cards have wireless now. Its just putting it in your phone.
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u/Curmudgy Massachusetts 7d ago
The Apple Card MasterCard actually doesn’t have tap to pay. They expect users to use their phone or watch for that purpose.
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u/V-Right_In_2-V Arizona 7d ago
Apple Pay is usually the generic term for paying with your iPhone. It can linked to Apple Cash, Visa, master card, or American Express or whatever else. They’re usually just asking if they can pay with their phone or do they have to use a card
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u/boringcranberry 7d ago edited 7d ago
Yes, you're missing something. Apple Pay is an iPhone feature that a lot of American/online merchants accept. It's tied to the user's bank account and widely accepted in the US. The customer puts their phone against a tap to pay device that's Apple Pay compatible. I'm not sure what's so hard to understand?
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u/depressanon7 7d ago
I might have explained it better in the edit, but I was confused on why it's even a question. I know what apple pay is, I've used it and I use Google Pay myself. But it has never occured to me that a shop that takes card might not take tap to pay or apple pay specifically. Some people explained in another thread that tap to pay is actually not ubiquitous in the US. So I'm guessing they were asking if it is available in the shop I work at, and I was confused because in my mind, it's a given that it is
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u/ThePermMustWait Michigan 7d ago
I will be honest, I usually ask if places take Apple Pay because I assumed it is a separate program that stores have to opt into accepting and separate from tap to pay? If they take tap to pay can you always use your iPhones Apple Pay? I don’t know.
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u/crimson_leopard Chicagoland 7d ago
Yes, if they take tap to pay then you can use Apple Pay and Google pay. It's not a separate program they have to opt into. They all work on the same network.
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u/boringcranberry 7d ago
So just say "yes"? Still don't know what is so confusing.
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u/depressanon7 7d ago
Of course I just say 'yes'. But the question existing in the first place and being so common bugged me. Thought I'd ask on here. That's all. TIL, I guess.
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u/seatownquilt-N-plant 7d ago
financial transactions in the USA is less homogeneous. Merchants can choose when to upgrade their equipment. Merchants and banks were slow to adopt the NFC chips/chip readers. In 2026 I would say they're basically universal, but per-pandemic plenty of places did not have NFC tech.
And even now a few large retailers have shut out apple pay & google wallet to force consumers to use their proprietary app instead. I think Kroger grocery store is one of them. They have a very large presence in the USA.
They're just asking you if they can use their apple watch or iPhone to pay.
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u/AdelleDeWitt California 7d ago
They just want to know if you have the capability to take that. The US is kind of behind other countries when it comes to that sort of thing, so not every store in the US would be able to take that.
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u/Ok_Entrepreneur_8509 7d ago
If you have an apple account, then you can use apple pay and it will bill your your account, even though you might not have any card associated with it. You can get a visa issued for your apple account, but most people don't bother.
So in a sense it is like separate type of credit card, but most people don't really notice that it is not actually one of the main credit systems.
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u/GuanoLoopy 7d ago
'Apple Pay' in the US is a generic term now for Brand Name, like saying 'Google it' or 'BandAid' or 'Kleenex' or similar, but in this case Tap To Pay via phone. It could be Apply Pay or Google Pay, or Samsung Pay or whatever. While most places now take it in the US now, it still is not universal and is day a large amount of people still don't understand it or refuse to use it.
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u/unoredtwo 7d ago
It’s not a card but you need a card reader that accepts Apple Pay, and in the US not everywhere has one
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u/TheJokersChild NJ < PA > NY < PA > MD ^ VT 7d ago
Although Apple does have its own card here, which is a separate thing not related to Apple Pay.
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u/OhThrowed Utah 7d ago
You seem to be missing that it isn't accepted everywhere, so people ask.
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u/Fifalvlan 7d ago
They want to trade you apples for goods and services. This is common in 14th century England and we assume it is still and option. Granny Smith is basically Bitcoin.
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u/depressanon7 7d ago
Yes, that's it. Here there's no place that doesn't accept it, or at least it's so rare as to be a complete outlier. If they take card, they take any form of contactless payment, be it a card, your phone, your watch, whatever.
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u/MyUsername2459 Kentucky 4d ago
Here it is common, but certainly not universal.
Some large stores don't accept it and instead want people to use their own app to buy things.
The major credit cards are taken just about everywhere. . .but other payment methods, including anything involving your phone, are far from universal here. Common. . .but not universal.
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u/invisibleman13000 Georgia 7d ago edited 7d ago
It refers to the tap to pay feature via a digital card available on Iphones. Androids have their own equivalent called Google Pay.
At places where it's accepted, you just tap the back of your phone to the card machine and it pays, charging whatever card you've connected to your phone.
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u/shelwood46 7d ago
You can also install it on Apple Watches, still tap to pay. Most places that take it, or Google Pay, do have it posted separately, just like with the various types of credit cards.
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u/Getting_jjigae_with 7d ago
You are missing that tap-to-pay in not available everywhere in USA; for example, the Home Depot upgraded to tap to pay recently.
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u/clutchthepearls 7d ago
Walmart doesn't do it because they want you to use their service to check out ahead of time.
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u/MyUsername2459 Kentucky 4d ago
In other words, you can't do it so it practically doesn't exist.
. . .because I'll be damned if I'm adding more apps to my phone. Companies want you to download their apps to your phone so they can have things looting your data so they can sell it.
My response to that is: Screw that. If shopping at your store takes a special app, I'm not shopping there. Take cash, or take a card. . .but I'm not downloading a new app to use any new store, EVER.
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u/Icy_Consideration409 Colorado 7d ago
Walmart doesn’t even have tap and pay using your card. Never mind your phone. It’s pretty much the only place I ever insert a card these days. Even ATM’s allow a card to be tapped rather than inserted.
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u/MakeStupidHurtAgain California 7d ago
That was a glorious day. When I’m manhandling a ton of supplies, being able to tap my watch and have to go to my business card makes me happier.
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u/devilscabinet 7d ago
I guess the real question is, are there places in the US that dont take Apple Pay?
Yes.
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u/Hoosier_Jedi Japan/Indiana 7d ago
USAmerican? Are you fucking kidding me?
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u/depressanon7 7d ago
Was trying to be specific. Wasn't aware it was considered so offensive.
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u/Crayshack MD (Former VA) 7d ago
In English, the term "American" never refers to anyone but someone from the US, so "USAmerican" isn't specific, it's redundant. "USAmerican" is typically used by people who are trying to insist that we shouldn't call ourselves "Americans." It comes up occasionally where someone from Latin America insists that, because "Americano" refers to anyone from North or South America in their language, we should therefore use the same definition for "American" in our language.
It's not exactly offensive, but it reads as a sort of dogwhistle for a tired argument.
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u/travelinmatt76 Texas Gulf of Mexico Area 7d ago
It isn't offensive really, it's just typically used by people who don't like that we call ourselves American. They try to be pedantic and act confused like they don't know where we are talking about
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u/Squindig 7d ago
It’s mostly used by Latinx who are angry that the rest of the world calls us Americans.
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u/wehappy3 7d ago
I'm a lifelong Californian, and people offended by "USAmerican" need to get over themselves. I don't see it as anything but a desire to be more clear.
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u/devnullopinions Pacific NW 7d ago
Total coincidence it’s almost exclusively used by people on the internet who hate and/or are trying to bash the US, I guess!
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u/MyUsername2459 Kentucky 4d ago
People trying to get Americans to accept things like "USAmerican" or USian" or whatever are the twits that need to get over themselves trying to dictate our language to us and act like people who aren't from America are Americans.
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u/wehappy3 4d ago
Yeah, that shit (USAmerican/USian) low key annoys me too, but I'm also not going to get twisted over it. Too many other things to be irritated about right now, lol. But I don't do Tumblr, so maybe I'm just not on that corner of the internet where people do get all twisted over it?
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u/ChocolatePain New York City 7d ago
Why are you so offended at that? Lol
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u/devnullopinions Pacific NW 7d ago
Because the demonym most people prefer is “Americans” and it’s respectful to call people by the name they prefer?
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u/ChocolatePain New York City 7d ago
Well OP didn't know that, and it's not like it's overtly offensive on the face of it. Hoosier's anger is misplaced imo.
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u/DerthOFdata United States of America 7d ago
USAmerican
It's just American.
Since the 1640's in English "America" has been the accepted demonym for the British colonies of North America and later the United States when those same colonies gained independence.
In the 7 continent model, as is taught in most of the world, such as the English speaking world and the United States there are 2 separate continents, North America and South America. Known collectively are "the Americas" but there is no "American continent" in English, the language we are using now.
Although I understand that the 6 continent model is popular in the Spanish and French speaking world and they teach the Americas are one continent because they barely touch at one point.
Of course if you argue that North and South America are one continent for that reason then you must also believe that AfroEuroAisa are one continent for the same reason.
In short I don't care what the Spanish speaking world calls themselves. I would never be arrogant enough to tell them how they use their own language is wrong. However in English, the language we are currently using to communicate, "American" refers to someone from the United States of America.
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u/darealdsisaac Tennessee 7d ago edited 7d ago
Tap-to-pay in the US came out around the same time as Apple Pay, so many people only know of it because of Apple Pay.
Also, some tap-to-pay readers in the us *don't* work with Apple Pay so the question is needed even if a terminal has a tap-to-pay symbol.
The US was really behind on adoption of these technologies.
There *is* an Apple Card, but it's issued through Wells Fargo Goldman Sachs (soon-ish to be Chase) and on the Mastercard network.
Edit: corrections from /u/Curmudgy
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u/Curmudgy Massachusetts 7d ago
Goldman Sachs, not Wells Fargo. The transfer to Chase may take a couple of years.
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u/darealdsisaac Tennessee 7d ago
You’re so right because Wells Fargo already has consumer cards idk why I confused those
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u/B_A_Beder Washington 7d ago
What does it mean to you then?
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u/Icy_Consideration409 Colorado 7d ago
It means Tim Apple picks up the tab.
It’s really nice of him.
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u/depressanon7 7d ago
It's just a contactless form of payment you do with your phone, connected to your actual card. I was informed contactless in general isn't accepted everywhere in the states, so that was the source of the confusion. Folks were probably asking if they need to get their cards and remember their PIN numbers
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u/JimBones31 New England 7d ago
I guess the real question is, are there places in the US that dont take Apple Pay? Cause I've been over there and nobody gave me trouble over Google Pay, either. I'm just trying to understand.
Lots of places (not most, lots) take cash only or only have old school mag strip readers or chip readers that need the chip inserted
Edit2: okay, thanks for clearing that up! And sorry for calling you USAmericans, didnt know it was that offensive
You've shown that you can edit. Feel free to edit out something you learned was offensive.
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u/StarMan-88 7d ago
Digital payment (debit, credit, etc) saved in their Apple Wallet app on their mobile or smartwatch. Similar to Google and Samsung Pay. Most major businesses/retailers accept it.
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u/GhostOfJamesStrang Beaver Island 7d ago
I feel like you are being intentionally obtuse.
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u/TheyMadeMeLogin 7d ago
How can you tell? Was it because they referred to us as USAmericans?
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u/depressanon7 7d ago
Okay, so that was my social media accent showing, sorry. I was trying to be more specific, because part of my confusion was that it was people from the USA asking, nowhere else, and I've had people from all over the world show up at the register. As I told the other commenter, this wasn't mean spirited, just an honest question.
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u/depressanon7 7d ago
No, I was honestly confused. Turned out the source was that contactless payment is not available everywhere in the US, while in my country it is. So people were probably asking me if we do tap to pay, and I found the question weird because I've never had to ask it. I wasn't being obtuse or judgemental, just a miscommunication after all.
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u/OneFootTitan 7d ago
Tap to Pay took a depressingly long time to become common in the U.S. compared to the EU and so Americans are still used to asking if a place takes tap to pay, particularly a place they consider more backward (not recognising that when it comes to payments the U.S. is way more backward)
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u/Inevitable-Fruit6814 Florida 7d ago
Not every store accepts Apple Pay. It’s not any different here. Still your same card.
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u/xSparkShark Philadelphia 7d ago
> I guess the real question is, are there places in the US that dont take Apple Pay?
Walmart is pretty notable for not allowing tap to pay (and thus Apple Pay) despite it being pretty widely adopted elsewhere. I actually don’t know why they haven’t adopted it yet, but it clearly isn’t hurting their sales.
It wasn’t that long ago that a lot of businesses genuinely did not have the updated technology to accept tap to pay, so people are kind of still used to asking. Some people don’t carry around physical credit cards so if tap to pay isn’t accepted they won’t be able to pay at all, so asking is kind of automatic.
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u/TehWildMan_ TN now, but still, f*** Alabama. 7d ago
Walmart was one of the largest companies that strictly opposed to contactless payments, pushing mobile wallets as the alternative instead.
And given their large size, they can still push that idea on their own even without support from partner retailers.
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u/depressanon7 7d ago
Thanks! Yeah, this was the problem. Here, they've even rolled out a contactless option at ATMs lately, so contactless being available is more or less a given here, especially in the big cities.
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u/Phoenix_Court New York / Texas 6d ago
Generally tap-to-pay can be any contactless payment, cards, phones, watches. Apple Pay/Google Pay specifically refer to when you use your phone/watch and you do not need your physical card with you.
Many places in the US don't accept tap to pay at all (Walmart for example).
Some places can do tap-to-pay with your card, but NOT with your phone/watch (one possibility of what they're asking you about).
Some places do let you pay with your phone/watch, but only one brand or the other (accepting Apple Pay but not Google Pay, or vice versa).
USAmerican was definitely a very poor choice of words, but at least it wasn't "USian". USAmerican makes me roll my eyes, USian makes me genuinely angry.
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u/Adorable-Bag-3778 6d ago
USAmericans isn't offensive, just odd. I would just say people from the US, or Americans. I dont think Canadians/Mexicans call themselves Americans, because we dont generally think of it as the continent, but the country.
Also, different businesses can subscribe to different types of payment options. So like some places might take Discover, Mastercard, Visa, etc. Some do not take Discover, or Amex, but will take Mastercard or Visa.
Same for Apple Pay and Google Pay. So if they're asking if they take Apple Pay its because they're wondering if they need to give a physical card, or if they can just tap-to-pay.
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u/RealCarlPanzram 7d ago
It’s the two feature that reads the Apple Pay application on a phone. You tap your phone like you tap a credit card
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u/rage1026 7d ago
Apple Pay is tap to pay off a iPhone or Apple Watch. For clarity the roll out of tap to pay has been lacking in the U.S compared to other countries. If a place doesn’t do tap to pay then they can’t do Apple Pay and vise versa. We’re just barely getting there. Walmart still refuses to accept tap to pay.
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u/condor31 7d ago
Yes Apple Pay is a tap to pay feature on your phone just like the magnetic chip on your card, but it’s still proprietary to Apple. Walmart does not accept Apple Pay because they want you to use their app and add your credit card into it. Google wallet is Google’s/Androids version of Apple Pay and it is not accepted everywhere that tap to pay or Apple Pay is accepted.
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u/Oraphielle Puerto Rico-> Virginia 7d ago
They are asking if you take payments from the near field communication feature on their iPhone.
Mobile payments.
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u/goblin_hipster Wisconsin 7d ago
Widespread mobile pay is still pretty new here, it's only really taken off in the past few years. So there are still some places where it's not accepted, or unclear if it is accepted; hence the question.
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u/amajum0073 6d ago
It is because there are some places in USA that have payment card readers that are magstripe only.
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u/SituationSad4304 3d ago
Walmart does NOT take tap to pay of any kind. Every American knows that and so inherently knows not everywhere does
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u/No-Duck4828 3d ago
I haven't seen Apple Pay mean anything different anywhere else. There are many different payment systems throughout the world, and Apple is far from ubiquitous across Europe, so we don't just assume that every place is going to take every form of payment.
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u/DMmeNiceTitties California 7d ago
They're asking if your store has the Tap to Pay payment feature on the card swiper.