At its iPhone event last month Apple showed off a new payments service that had been rumored many times this year. Called Apple Pay, this service is going to go live across the U.S. on Monday, October 20th. On that day Apple is also going to release iOS 8.1 so that it can bring support for this service to iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Apple Pay supports all three major cards provider, Visa, Mastercard and American Express, so linking your card won’t really be an issue. Once everything is set up, paying for purchases at point-of-sale locations across the countries requires just one tap.
Some big names have already committed to support Apple Pay, this includes the likes of McDonald’s, Macy’s, Walgreens and many more. When the service was announced last month many of the country’s top banks were already present. Apple today announced that since then it has signed up 500 more banks of varying sizes for Apple Pay in just over a month.
For PoS purchases Apple Pay relies upon NFC and Touch ID fingerprint sensor. The sensor can also be used to make purchases online and in apps through Apple Pay. The service is supported by iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 as well, but not at point-of-sales, there’s support for online purchases only.