Bank of America will now be allowing Apple Pay subscribers to withdraw cash from some of its ATMs using the mobile payment service.
The new feature will allow users to request a withdrawal using only their iPhone, without the need to take out their debit cards from their wallets.
The feature was first reported by a Reddit user who says that Apple Pay now joins Android Pay and Samsung Pay in allowing users to make withdrawals and transfer through the ATM machines of Bank of America.
To withdraw cash using Apple Pay, users will have to place their iPhone on top of the NFC reader located to the left of the ATM machine's card reader. Once the iPhone is placed near the NFC logo, users are asked to enter their PIN number, which will take them through the normal withdrawal process. The option for depositing money, however, is disabled.
The feature, however, has not yet been enabled for all of Bank of America's cardless machines. In addition, the option to withdraw using Apple Pay will only work with cards that were issued by Bank of America.
Bank of America has uploaded a dedicated page to the feature on its official website, but it does not list the locations where the feature is supported. Instead, it only indicates that Apple Pay users can withdraw money from ATMs that feature the contactless symbol.
The bank has also recommended that users protect their smartphones with a PIN or a fingerprint, which will help in preventing unauthorized access to the device and all the accounts associated with it.
Until the feature sees a wider rollout, only a handful of users might be able to take advantage of it. For those who have Bank of America ATMs nearby with contactless features and have an account with the bank, the convenience and security that this provides will be great, though.
According to Apple Pay Vice President Jennifer Bailey, the company is rapidly working to expand the reach of the mobile payment service into more European and Asian countries. Apple has revealed that it is next looking to expand the service to Hong Kong, but its succeeding plans remain unclear.
Apple is now working with certain companies to add Apple Pay as a payment option for online purchases, which will put the service in direct competition with PayPal. Authentications for such purchases will still require the user to have their iPhone in hand though.
