After months of waiting, Barclays customers can finally use their Barclays card with Apple Pay.
Apple launched its digital wallet and mobile payment system called Apple Pay in the United States in October 2014. The service made its way to the UK in July 2015 and supported select devices.
Apple Pay does not need an Apple-specific contactless payment terminal and customers can make payments over other terminals, such as Visa's PayWave, MasterCard's PayPass and more.
At Apple Pay's UK launch, some select banks including the Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, Ulster Bank, NatWest and Nationwide supported the service. Customers who wanted to use the service would need an American Express, Visa and MasterCard debit or credit card issued by one of these banks.
Several well-known banks such as Barclays did not join Apple Pay at launch. However, Barclays has jumped on the bandwagon and its customers can already make payments via Apple Pay.
"Apple Pay lets you use your Apple device to pay with your Barclays debit card or Barclaycard wherever you see the Apple Pay or contactless logo. You can use Apple Pay for in-app purchases too - a fingerprint is all it takes. It's a safe and secure way to pay, and you won't be charged additional fees for using it," says Barclays.
The UK bank officially announced that millions of its customers can now conveniently make payments via a compatible iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch at more than 400,000 contactless locations in the UK from Tuesday.
Customers can easily set up Apple Pay by adding their Barclays debit card or Barclaycard credit card to Wallet and continue receiving all of the usual benefits and rewards.
In 2007, Barclaycard was the first to introduce contactless credit cards in the UK. The bank was also the first to issue contactless debit cards to its UK customers. According to Barclays, the contactless payment solution is convenient and it has grown at a fast pace since its introduction.
Spending via contactless payment cards has increased in the UK and the bank recorded 140 million contactless transactions in December 2015 alone, which is equivalent to 52 transactions every second.
"Since we introduced contactless to the UK in 2007, it's changed the way consumers make everyday purchases by cutting out the hassle of handling cash. With Barclaycard and Barclays bringing Apple Pay to our customers, we can now offer the widest choice of ways to make and take payments in a way that's most convenient for them," says Amer Sajed, the interim CEO of Barclaycard.
Apple Pay is compatible with the latest iPhone SE, iPhone 6 and above, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 4 and iPad Pro.
