Barclays Confirms Apple Pay Support in Future, First Direct and HSBC Delayed Until Later This Month

Barclays Apple Pay UKBarclays today announced that it will support Apple Pay for debit and credit cards in the United Kingdom in the future, confirming a MacRumors report that claimed the bank expected "imminent" support of the mobile payments service.

Apple Pay officially launched in the U.K. earlier today and can be used at more than 250,000 locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A full list of retail shops and apps that accept Apple Pay can be found on Apple's website.

Apple has also updated its Apple Pay participating banks list in the U.K. and moved First Direct and HSBC to the "coming soon" section. First Direct has confirmed on Twitter that Apple Pay will be "available later in July," while HSBC tweeted that it will be "launching Apple Pay by the end of this month." It was expected that the banks would support Apple Pay in the U.K. at launch today.

HSBC First Direct Apple Pay UK
The full list of U.K. financial institutions that currently support Apple Pay per Apple's website includes American Express, MBNA, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank. The banks listed under coming soon include Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank and TSB. As of today's announcement, Barclays should be added to that list soon as well.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

iphone 17 models

No iPhone 18 Launch This Year, Reports Suggest

Thursday January 1, 2026 8:43 am PST by
Apple is not expected to release a standard iPhone 18 model this year, according to a growing number of reports that suggest the company is planning a significant change to its long-standing annual iPhone launch cycle. Despite the immense success of the iPhone 17 in 2025, the iPhone 18 is not expected to arrive until the spring of 2027, leaving the iPhone 17 in the lineup as the latest...
duolingo ad live activity

Duolingo Used iPhone's Dynamic Island to Display Ads, Violating Apple Design Guidelines

Friday January 2, 2026 1:36 pm PST by
Language learning app Duolingo has apparently been using the iPhone's Live Activity feature to display ads on the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island, which violates Apple's design guidelines. According to multiple reports on Reddit, the Duolingo app has been displaying an ad for a "Super offer," which is Duolingo's paid subscription option. Apple's guidelines for Live Activity state that...
Clicks Communicator Feature

'Clicks Communicator' Unveiled — Will You Carry This With Your iPhone?

Friday January 2, 2026 6:35 am PST by
The company behind the BlackBerry-like Clicks Keyboard accessory for the iPhone today unveiled a new Android 16 smartphone called the Clicks Communicator. The purpose-built device is designed to be used as a second phone alongside your iPhone, with the intended focus being communication over content consumption. It runs a custom Android launcher that offers a curated selection of messaging...
Low Cost MacBook Feature A18 Pro

Low-Price 12.9-Inch MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Reportedly Launching Early This Year

Friday January 2, 2026 9:08 am PST by
Apple plans to introduce a 12.9-inch MacBook in spring 2026, according to TrendForce. In a press release this week, the Taiwanese research firm said this MacBook will be aimed at the entry-level to mid-range market, with "competitive pricing." TrendForce did not share any further details about this MacBook, but the information that it shared lines up with several rumors about a more...
Apple Fitness Plus hero

Apple Announces New Fitness+ Workout Programs, Strava Challenge, and More

Friday January 2, 2026 6:43 am PST by
Apple today announced a number of updates to Apple Fitness+ and activity with the Apple Watch. The key announcements include: New Year limited-edition award: Users can win the award by closing all three Activity Rings for seven days in a row in January. "Quit Quitting" Strava challenge: Available in Strava throughout January, users who log 12 workouts anytime in the month will win an ...
Low Cost A18 Pro MacBook Feature Pink

Apple's 2026 Low-Cost A18 Pro MacBook: What We Know So Far

Friday January 2, 2026 4:33 pm PST by
Apple is planning to release a low-cost MacBook in 2026, which will apparently compete with more affordable Chromebooks and Windows PCs. Apple's most affordable Mac right now is the $999 MacBook Air, and the upcoming low-cost MacBook is expected to be cheaper. Here's what we know about the low-cost MacBook so far. Size Rumors suggest the low-cost MacBook will have a display that's around 13 ...
Mac Pro Feature Blue

What's Happening With the Mac Pro?

Wednesday December 31, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple hasn't updated the Mac Pro since 2023, and according to recent rumors, there's no update coming in the near future. In fact, Apple might be finished with the Mac Pro. Bloomberg recently said that the Mac Pro is "on the back burner" and has been "largely written off" by Apple. Apple apparently views the more compact Mac Studio as the ideal high-end pro-level desktop, and it has almost...

Top Rated Comments

Zxxv Avatar
137 months ago
Wish I wrote the headlines and articles. Maybe I should start a website.

Yours

Barclays today announced ('https://twitter.com/BarclaysUK/status/620861754424299520') that it will support Apple Pay for debit and credit cards in the United Kingdom in the future, confirming a MacRumors report that claimed the bank expected "imminent" support ('https://www.macrumors.com/2015/07/10/barclays-apple-pay-imminent/')of the mobile payments service.
Apple has also updated its Apple Pay participating banks list ('https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-pay/') in the U.K. and moved First Direct and HSBC to the "coming soon" section. First Direct has confirmed ('https://twitter.com/firstdirecthelp/status/620920370032431104') on Twitter that Apple Pay will be "available later in July," while HSBC tweeted ('https://twitter.com/HSBC_UK_Help/status/620917702442532864') that it will be "launching Apple Pay by the end of this month."
Mine

In an effort to not lose customers Barclays today scrambled following what can only be described as a major balls up. Despite having over 8 months to prepare they say it will support Apple Pay for debit and credit cards in the United Kingdom in wait for this....the future. When that is is anyone guess.
Apple has also updated its Apple Pay participating banks list ('https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-pay/') in the U.K. and moved First Direct and HSBC to the "coming soon" section after they failed to do sweet f*** all in the last 8 months. First Direct has now like barclays scrambled to not loose customers by confirm ('https://twitter.com/firstdirecthelp/status/620920370032431104')ing on Twitter that Apple Pay will be "available later in July," note no year is confirmed. Maybe its 2046? HSBC tweeted ('https://twitter.com/HSBC_UK_Help/status/620917702442532864') that it will be "launching Apple Pay by the end of this month" Atleast they gave it as this year
I like mine better :)
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
markfc Avatar
137 months ago
Glad I moved to Nationwide. Just bought my first Apple Pay lunch at Co-Operative. :)

1st person to do it to so had a little staff crowd watching.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan Avatar
137 months ago
Stickers, fobs and bracelets is not what people want
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jimrod Avatar
137 months ago
Lots of people crying, I mean really - just use your chip and pin card.

I tried to authorise a HSBC card to Apple pay outside Tesco's just now before lunch, it didn't work (I hadn't seen the news) so I used my chip and pin card as I do every other day. This had literally zero effect on my life. I'll get over waiting a couple of weeks before it's working...
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hustler1337 Avatar
137 months ago
'Future' is too vague, it could be Christmas 2015 for all we know.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DannyT2011 Avatar
137 months ago
Does anyone know if banks need to implement significant infrastructure changes? or is it a case of just ticking 'Apple Pay' on the options of a contactless vendor machine?

I can't understand why Barclays is pissing about.
Maybe they were stalling so they could brag about bPay and how successful it wasn't
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)