I honestly love Apple Pay, but I don't use it super often because it makes me self-conscious. I feel like a bit of a dick for some reason. If you try to do something "weird" and it doesn't work, people get annoyed, or it feels like an imposition. Even when it works, people sometimes make some kind of comment. Relatedly, it's unpredictable whether it will work or not. It usually does, as long as the card machine says you can "tap", but sometimes it doesn't.
This would all be better if I ever saw anyone else use it, but I don't.
Edit: wanted to add that here in Portland, we have the special Apple Pay transit wallet for the bus, which is amazing! I only infrequently take the bus, and it's so nice to never worry about whether I have exact change for the fare.
This is a very US biased thing. In the UK it’s been months since I last encountered a card reader that didn’t do contactless, and almost as long since I’ve been told a place doesn’t accept cards. These days you’ll get looked at funny if you put your card in the machine unless you’re doing a substantial transaction.
I still carry a small amount of cash on me just in case, but the same £10 note has been sitting unused in my wallet since November now, slowly gathering dust.
Here in Australia we've had contactless for close to a decade I'd guess. All our terminals have been updated so the only place you really see a terminal that can't do contactless these days is broken ones where that component seems to be malfunctioning.
I bought coffee from the usual place today, where the card machine was broken. Everyone uses Apple / Android pay. The lady serving there was as confused by cash as the customers were.
There were conversations about bank notes because some hadn’t seen the newer ones before, despite them being around for what seems like ages now.
I too had a note sitting in my wallet waiting for such a circumstance. Now I have change and it’s weird that it feels alien. We used to do this for everything.
Fun development: MOST US cards don't do contactless at all, which led to some annoying interactions for both US and UK merchants when we were visiting last summer.
UNTIL I realized that ApplePay worked on every contactless terminal. The bartenders & clerks looked at me a little funny, but when they realized they didn't have to do the goofy exception process required for a purchase signature, they didn't care.
Even so, though, cash is still king. I always have $100-200 on me.
Due to the forced slowness of US chip readers, Apple Pay is often much faster (to feeling magically faster) on average, that as I have gotten used to my device's own haptic feedbacks for the action, that I don't feel too much self-consciousness in those few times I try it, it fails, I dig out a physical card. At this point I don't think anyone notices if I try it or not other than when it succeeds "too quickly" and they want to know what voodoo I used to checkout faster than them, and I like talking about tech and enjoy explaining in that case.
Most of the remaining awkward are the cashiers/business that still like to "touch" the physical card itself (for whatever reason and/or ignorance), hiding the chip reader behind a counter or facing it away from the user. If the reader is too hidden you know not to try at all. The "pardon my reach" is sometimes embarrassing to try when the reader is in an accessible but awkward position, but sometimes I still like to try it, just to somewhat send a message that there are reasons they should move the reader closer to the buyer than the register and they just hadn't seen them yet.
> I honestly love Apple Pay, but I don't use it super often because it makes me self-conscious. I feel like a bit of a dick for some reason. If you try to do something "weird" and it doesn't work, people get annoyed, or it feels like an imposition.
1. Get an Apple Watch. In the following, I will assume you wear this on your left wrist.
2. Set up Apple Pay on the watch. Keep the card you have set up as your main Apple Pay card in your left pants pocket.
3. When you wish to pay with Apple Pay in a situation where you feel self-conscious, reach into your left pocket with your left hand and get your card.
4. Move the card toward the terminal, at the same time using your right hand to double-click the side button on the watch to bring up Apple Pay.
5. Continue moving the card toward the terminal as if you are going to swipe or insert it as appropriate, but while doing this bring the watch near the place you would for Apple Pay.
6. If you get the haptic feedback that indicates a successful Apple Pay, great. Put your card back in your wallet, and no one is the wiser.
7. If you don't get the haptic feedback, go ahead and finish with the actual card.
(If you are worried about terminals that are a little slow with Apple Pay, and so you might get an Apple Pay response after you have gone ahead and inserted the card, you could modify step #7 to be pull the left hand away while using the right hand to continue with the physical card).
I seriously doubt anyone cares. It doesn't even cross my mind when I pay with Google pay. And I can't remember ever paying attention to how the person in front of me pays unless they are already holding up the line and then start pulling out coupons and checkbooks.
I've gradually started getting over my similar feeling-like-a-dick sentiments. I definitely always have the worry that it's not going to work (Google Pay for me here, though), and occasionally I'll fumble to hold my phone in exactly the right way for the particular card reader I'm presented with. I still also feel like if I hand a card to a cashier, and it isn't working right, I implicitly blame the store or their equipment, where if I can't get Google Pay to work, I blame myself, and then feel bad for wasting other people's time.
I tried to use Google Pay (back when it was Android Pay) at a Cumberland Farms and when the reader read my phone it actually crashed the payment system.
A few months later my grocery store put up "now accepts Android Pay" signs. I went through the self checkout lane and the phone was read, but the payment never went through. Had to use my card eventually.
Then my expensive phone broke and I bought one without mobile payments.
But it did work at Dunkin Donuts a few times, so there's that.
If I’m not sure, I say “Apple Pay okay?” to the cashier first in what I hope is a friendly way. Sometimes they’re not sure and will say, “you can try,” and then it feels more okay to give it a shot.
Feeling rude happens because when you suddenly produce your phone or watch, you suddenly reveal you’ve been thinking of the transaction differently and maybe that the cashier was incorrect or ignorant to assume you would swipe your card. You are unmasking yourself, in a sense. Proactively mentioning it lets them work with you and share their knowledge about the terminal if it’s relevant.
I'm not sure why you're being downvoted. This is a thing that happens. Usually because the cashier hasn't been trained.
These days I don't generally need to ask because the terminal have very conspicuous Apple Pay logos on them. But sometimes the terminal is kept behind the counter, so you can't see.
I've had several occasions (most recently at my vet) where I was told that it wouldn't work and I said, "Let's try it anyway," and it worked just fine.
Yes, I’ve had this happen and usually I just assent and pull out a card. Since I’ve just asked to avoid feeling rude, I’m probably not going to try Apple Pay in defiance of them.
When I’ve thought Apple Pay would have actually worked in that kind of situation, I try it next time I’m there (without asking first!)
In my experience, some small businesses avoid Apple Pay/Google Pay because you can add American Express cards to them, and they want to not accept Amex cards in order to save on the fee, despite the service agreement of their payment processor obligating them to.
That's an interesting viewpoint. Where do you live? I would imagine you live somewhere that is not along the coastline in the USA.
The only time I have ever run into any kind of social friction (percieved or actual) it was only around the time that it had just rolled out and everyone would groan and say stuff like "yeah, it says we do apple pay but it wont work"
But after those initial bumps it is really prevalent and easy to use. I never feel like I am inconveniencing anyone.
Portland, OR, but I never saw anyone use it in Brooklyn, either. Though NYC is incredibly backwards as far as payment technology goes, and most places strongly prefer cash.
I still get your reaction sometimes, or that look that says "I'm tolerating this, but you're annoying me."
Yes and also has the benefit of moving the infrastructure from the establishment to the customer. Anyone can print out a QR code and accept mobile payments vs a dedicated hardware solution.
I'm in the Bay Area, and whenever I'm not a not-familiar store, I'm a little self conscious and have one hand ready to reach for my wallet at the smallest hurdle with contactless.
Some people just don't want to be "that guy" holding up the line, for any reason. Even if it might have been faster to try contactless a second time.
Never had any weird looks from people (other than CA, I've used it in NV, AZ, MA, OR, WA). Almost every-time, it makes me quicker than everyone else, so not sure why would people make a comment. Also, if I don't see any NFC payment sign around, I would quickly ask while cashier is scanning my items.
I feel this just a little bit too, when there's an actual cashier. It just sort of screams "tech yuppie". But that alone I can live with; I just always make sure to check that it'll work beforehand, because if it actually holds up the line that's super uncomfortable.
Problem with these contactless payments is you first try contactless, then wait to figure out if it fails, then if it does, you're dealing with the slowness of a physical card on top of all the time you wasted with contactless. Until it reliably works everywhere, you kind of have to do a little math estimation to decide what to use:
T(card) = time it takes to use a physical card
T(ap) = time it takes to use Apple Pay
T(fail) = time it takes to realize Apple Pay failed
P(fail) = probability that Apple Pay will fail to work
So if T(card) < T(ap) x [1-P(fail)] + [T(ap) + T(fail) + T(card)] x P(fail)
...then you should just use your physical card. I don't even try Apple Pay anymore because merchant support is so unpredictable and spotty.
> wanted to add that here in Portland, we have the special Apple Pay transit wallet for the bus, which is amazing!
I'm aware of this, because here in Canada, if you add a transit pass to Google Pay, the only options are 1) Las Vegas Monorail, 2) Melbourne myki, 3) Portland Hop and 4) Manatee County, Florida MCAT.
CTA in Chicago takes Apple Pay, as does Ventra (the commuter rail app) and WMATA in DC is supposed to soon I think. Surprised Canada hasn't caught on to that.
I don't know that they haven't - I assume those four cities support some additional integration with Google Pay over just paying for tickets.
My local commuter rail "takes" Apple/Google Pay in the sense that you can buy a paper ticket via contactless payment - there are no turnstiles or fare collection, making it essentially an honour system.
Melbourne-resident here; Myki is there because it's a horribly implemented system to the point where, while most cities will just use a Visa/Amex/MC backed system, we needed to keep our specific transit ticketing because... reasons. It's really bad.
Chicago's CTA only accepts US cards, even when paying with Apple Pay. My international cards weren't accepted at all, the card reader failing with a generic error message. I didn't expect Apple Pay being declined, though.
On the other hand, both Las Vegas and Portland transit systems readily accepts foreign cards.
One of the first times i paid with my iPhone, the cashier tensed up a little when I authenticated with FaceID before paying.
I apologized for being rude by looking at my phone during the payment, but that I had to authenticate with it with my face to be able to pay. She relaxed and said it was okay, so apparently the unfamiliarity was the source of the confusion.
The trick with the "weird" feeling is to bail quickly and use cash or a traditional card if the ApplePay process isn't working, so folks behind you don't get annoyed.
I've found that AP either works or doesn't in the first couple seconds (and is overwhelmingly the former).
It's funny, often I'll get a confused look and they just pass over the terminal and are surprised and usually happy when it works. I do feel a little weird when it doesn't work, but the number of times it fails drops all the time.
well it doesn't help that recent updates to iOS have caused Apple Pay to trip up. It used to work flawlessly for me at every machine but now I find myself having to unlock the phone first which I never did before
I always rub my phone on card readers like an idiot on the off chance it accepts Apple Pay. When it doesn't work I feel like an idiot for a second then move on. So worth if I go to a particular place often.
It has never worked for me. Even at the Apple store!
Clearly it works for someone because "10% of global transactions" but, I'm guessing it has something to do with how bad Apple is at dealing with international issues like the fact the App Store is completely fucked if you need apps from multiple countries I can only guess Apple Pay is just as fucked.
This would all be better if I ever saw anyone else use it, but I don't.
Edit: wanted to add that here in Portland, we have the special Apple Pay transit wallet for the bus, which is amazing! I only infrequently take the bus, and it's so nice to never worry about whether I have exact change for the fare.