As expected, Apple Pay is now available in Canada. You can use use eligible American Express bank cards to make mobile payments at a whole host of retailers that support the NFC technology across Canada. Apple Pay retailer mobile payments works with iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. Some had suggested that Apple may need to push out an iOS software update but iOS 9.2 remains in beta — this all works from within the Wallet setup on iOS 9.1.
For the UK, Apple has also brought Tesco Bank and TSB onboard … expanding Apple Pay to even more people in the country.
To add cards in Apple Pay, open Wallet app and click on the ‘Add Debit/Credit Card’ option. Unlike the launch in US and UK, which supported many regional banks, the Canadian Apple Pay launch is limited to just American Express cards. For Canada users, you may have to change your region to US in Settings for the Add Credit / Debit Card option to appear. It is still rolling out ahead of an ‘official’ launch later today so the region change is an interim step.
It’s not known if Apple intends to continue expansion into other Canadian banks. Apple also has announced a similar deal in Australia: using American Express as the conduit to launch Apple Pay there. Apple Pay with American Express is coming to Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong in 2016.
For Canada, Apple Pay is supported a wide variety of big retailers like McDonald’s, Walmart and of course Apple Stores. Look for the normal contactless logo in store to see if Apple Pay is supported.
On the UK front, Tesco Bank and TSB have today launched Apple Pay support. For Tesco, you can use any MasterCard Tesco Bank card. Rather amusingly, the distribution of NFC in Tesco retail supermarkets is lacking so there’s a good chance you won’t be able to use Apple Pay on your Tesco bank card in Tesco itself. TSB’s Apple Pay launch includes some 5% cashback promotions so check out their website for full details.
