What is Apple Pay for?
The Apple Pay payment system, according to engineers, should replace plastic bank cards.
It allows you to use iPhone smartphones and Apple Watch smart watches to pay for purchases in stores, cafes and other establishments. When making payments, money is withdrawn immediately from the linked bank card. The company does not charge a fee for using Apple Pay.
According to service statistics, about a million new users join Apple Pay every week. Moreover, in the US, more than 90% of all contactless payments are made using Apple Pay.
Other payment services
For Android on Google Play you need to download the Google Pay application for free. The way this utility works is clear to every user - it is identical to Apple.
NFC Writer is a development that is only supported by devices running the Windows operating platform.
This complicates the work with the service, but another one has not yet been created for such phones. The user will have to learn to “program” their device on their own.
With its help, a Tag is created for working with contactless payment, but to use the full set of functions, a separate NFS tag is required.
Which bank card do you need to have to pay with Apple Pay?
The first Russian partner bank for Apple Pay was Sberbank together with Mastercard. Therefore, now only owners of Mastercard credit and debit cards issued by Sberbank can use the payment system.
Apple Vice President of Apple Pay Jennifer Bailey promised that the list of banks that support Apple Pay will be expanded in the near future. Previously, Vedomosti reported that Raiffeisenbank, Tinkoff Bank, B&N Bank, Otkritie, VTB 24 and Yandex.Money could also become partners in the future.
According to a vc.ru source in the financial market, the list of new Apple partners will be announced in November 2016. The founder of Tinkoff Bank, Oleg Tinkov, also wrote about this on his Instagram.
Which establishments can you pay with Apple Pay?
You can pay with Apple Pay in stores with iPhone SE, iPhone 6 and later models, and Apple Watch.
Apple's website notes that the payment system works "everywhere contactless payments are accepted." We are talking about terminals in shops, cafes and restaurants that display one of the contactless payment icons:
Among the Russian retailers where you can definitely find similar terminals are Azbuka Vkusa, Auchan, Atak, M.Video, Eldorado, Magnit, Mediamarkt, TSUM, BP, re:Store. The list, according to the Apple website, will be constantly updated. Representatives of the Dixy and Victoria chains, as well as Starbucks coffee shops, also informed the vc.ru editors about support for Apple Pay.
In addition, Sberbank promised to transfer all points it serves to contactless payments by the end of 2017.
There are more than 11 million locations in the world where Apple Pay is available.
Which apps can you buy with Apple Pay?
Using Apple Pay, you can also pay in online stores (using the Safari browser on your computer, iPhone or iPad) and iOS applications that support the company's payment system. In this case, there will be a separate “Buy with Apple Pay” button on the website and app on the payment page.
In order for an application or website to support payments using Apple Pay, service developers must connect their project to the system. The company does not charge a commission for user payments made through Apple Pay.
The Apple payment system is already available in applications from Russian developers. The editors of vc.ru provide a list of domestic services that support Apple Pay.
For example, using Apple Pay you can buy tickets in the S7 airline app.
And also Aeroflot:
You can use the App in the Air app to reserve your lounge seat using Apple Pay.
Through "Railway Tickets" you can buy a train ticket.
The developers of the Utkonos hypermarket app have added support for the Apple payment system.
Through the OneTwoTrip iOS application, you can pay for plane tickets via Apple Pay; purchasing train tickets and booking a hotel room will appear later.
Ticketland users can buy tickets to the theater, concert, show, or circus using Apple Pay.
You can pay for discount coupons through the Biglion app.
Apple Pay support is also implemented in the Gett application - users can not link a card in the service, but simply add payment through the Apple payment system.
What about security?
Apple Pay has a multi-level security system: a unique device identifier, dynamically generated security codes for each payment transaction, biometric information - a fingerprint.
Taken together, these tools provide more reliable security than a magnetic stripe or even a chip in a bank card.
During connection creation, devices exchange one-time tokens , which are deleted when the connection ends. The token is designed to replace the card number so that no one recognizes the latter. The token represents a randomly generated number, so the bank card number hidden behind it cannot be decrypted.
All this comes together and replaces the CVV of a bank card for a payment transaction. After establishing a connection and exchanging tokens for data transfer, they are encrypted. These encrypted messages reflect their ownership of the specific device that created the token used.
Even if the token is intercepted, it will not provide the attacker with valuable information, since after the connection is broken, the token is deleted.
Although the message contains information about the buyer, the seller, the amount of money involved in the transaction and the bank that provided the card, all data is securely encrypted. Apple does not disclose information about the encryption algorithm, which causes an uproar among some information security specialists.
Apple motivates its partners to switch to more modern payment terminals according to the EMV specification, that is, replacing the magnetic stripe of plastic cards with a Secure Element chip, which is almost impossible to hack using data interception.
How to link a card to Apple Pay
Linking a bank card to Apple Pay occurs in the Wallet application. The app can automatically link the card that is used for iTunes purchases. Or you can scan the card using your camera and add it to Wallet. If the bank supports Apple Pay, the card will be linked automatically.
Sberbank cardholders can also link a card through the Sberbank Online application. To do this, you need to select “Connect to Apple Pay” in the list of cards - the card will automatically be linked to Wallet.
Where can it be applied?
Many people do not know how to use NFS on iPhone and where this system can be useful. In fact, Apple Pay is used for the following transactions:
- Making payments in stores. In all retail outlets where the technology is supported, funds are transferred for any type of goods, regardless of the amount and time of day.
- In-app purchases. Within the iTunes and App Store, cards are used to pay for subscriptions, utilities and additional bonuses.
- Entering data on websites. Thanks to the automatic entry of information, payments are also made via the Internet. There is no need to always have a card on hand - everything is stored on the phone.
- Replenishment of cards for travel on public transport. Thus, paying for travel by phone in Moscow and throughout Russia is carried out with the express transport card mode turned off.
How to pay with Apple Pay
In order to make a payment at the checkout using an iPhone, on a locked phone you need to double-click on the “Home” button - the NFC chip of the smartphone is activated, and an image of the bank card and its last four digits will be displayed on the screen.
The bank may limit the maximum amount when paying through Apple Pay and additionally request a PIN code.
In order to pay using Apple Watch, you need to double-click the side button of the watch and bring it closer to the terminal.
To make a purchase in an app or website that supports Apple Pay, you need to place your finger on the Touch ID sensor to confirm the payment.
If the gadget is lost
Apple Pay on an iPhone that went missing still works. And this threatens that anyone who knows the phone password can make purchases. The algorithm of actions in case of iPhone theft is as follows:
- Mark your phone as missing. The user locks his device and displays communication data on the screen.
- At the same time, the phone location tracking service is enabled, but it must be activated in advance, as well as the offline search item.
- Apple Pay automatically temporarily blocks contactless payments. At the same moment, a letter is sent to the user’s email with a link to confirm the blocking.
How secure are payments via Apple Pay?
Apple says card numbers are not stored on devices or on the company's servers. When making a payment, Apple does not transmit the card number to the store, but only sends a special identification code, which is encrypted and stored locally on the iPhone.
The company also says it does not store user payment data or create a payment profile for users, for example, to target ads.
To confirm a payment, Apple Pay uses the iPhone's built-in Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
If you lose your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch, you can pause the ability to pay via Apple Pay using the Find iPhone feature.
Data confirmation
Wallet is a card program that stores basic data, such as recent transactions. Confirmation of information after adding it is not required. The fact is that when making a payment, the request is sent to the bank. Then the standard system works:
- the terminal asks for a password - you must enter it for additional security;
- payment is completed - the bank trusts the terminal and does not request new information.
Usually, immediately after payment, a notification of debiting funds is received from the banking organization.
If any card information is entered incorrectly, the payment will not be made. Therefore, filling out each field should be taken seriously. Then there will be no problems using the service.
What similar solutions are there for Android in Russia?
On September 29, Samsung presented its mobile payment system for the Russian market. Samsung Pay is supported on Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy Note5, Galaxy A5 and A7 2016 smartphones.
Now you can link MasterCard cards from Alfa Bank, VTB 24, MTS, Raiffeisenbank, Russian Standard and Yandex.Money to the Korean manufacturer’s system.
However, Vedomosti's interlocutors claim that the system is not popular among users - on the first day, its clients made several dozen transactions using Samsung Pay.
