Apple Watch Users Embracing Apple Pay for Everyday Purchases

Apple Pay on iPhone is a convenient and secure way to make payments without taking a debit or credit card out of your wallet, but you still need to take the smartphone out of your pocket to make a purchase. For that reason, Apple Pay has proven more transformative on Apple Watch, since the device is worn on the wrist and readily available for contactless payments.

The latest data from research firm Wristly supports that notion, with 80% of the over 1,000 respondents surveyed in the U.S. and U.K. claiming they have used Apple Pay on an Apple Watch at least once. The remaining 20% of respondents indicated they "do not perceive a benefit" to Apple Pay, have security concerns or believe their payment needs are already being met.

Wristly Apple Pay First Use
Just over half (51%) of respondents described using Apple Pay on the Apple Watch as "magical," an adjective often used by late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, while 42% indicated that the service is "convenient." An additional 3% of respondents said Apple Pay is "good," but with some areas of concern, and the remaining 4% of users found Apple Pay "not that useful."

Given the choice, 79% of respondents preferred to use Apple Pay on the Apple Watch and 9% preferred to use the mobile payments service on an iPhone. The survey panel most commonly used Apple Pay for everyday shopping (81%), in addition to recurring services such as Starbucks (60%), bigger purchases (35%), in-app purchases (29%) and other purchases (11%)…

Wristly Apple Pay Preference
Wristly's sixteenth weekly Apple Watch Insider's Report [PDF] details other statistics and usage cases for Apple Pay on Apple Watch, including brand impact, purchase frequency, average number of debit and credit cards set up, agree statements and more.

Wristly previously shared Apple Watch customer satisfaction data, cited by Apple CEO Tim Cook during the company's most recent quarterly earnings call, and health and fitness data that showed healthy lifestyle changes among early adopters.

Apple Watch users interested in joining Wristly's panel can sign up on the firm's website.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch 10, Apple Pay
Tag: Wristly
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday May 27, 2025 9:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of May 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X ...
Whatsapp Feature

WhatsApp Teases Long-Awaited iPad App

Monday May 26, 2025 10:23 am PDT by
The popular messaging app WhatsApp has teased a long-awaited iPad app, which would be offered alongside its existing iPhone and Mac apps. The official WhatsApp account on X today reacted with an eyes emoji to a post saying that WhatsApp should release an iPad app. This could be a hint that Meta is gearing up to release WhatsApp for iPad, which has already been available for beta testing via...
WWDC 2025 Banner

WWDC is Just Two Weeks Away: Here Are the Biggest iOS 19 Rumors

Monday May 26, 2025 8:12 am PDT by
WWDC 2025 is just two weeks away as of today, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled for Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, tvOS 19, visionOS 3, and other software updates, along with new Apple Intelligence features. In some years, there are also hardware announcements at WWDC, but there are no...
HomePod With Screen Feature

Apple's Rumored Smart Home Hub Has Faced a Disappointing Setback

Monday May 26, 2025 7:18 am PDT by
Apple has scrapped some of the features that it had planned for its long-rumored smart home hub device, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "I'm told that Apple has pulled some bolder features from the device that could reappear in subsequent models," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter this week. However, he did not reveal any of the specific features that were pulled. Apple made...
top stories 2025 05 24

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Air Details, Apple's Smart Glasses, and More

Saturday May 24, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
WWDC is coming up quickly with a number of software announcements in store, but we're also looking further ahead to hardware launches like the iPhone 17 lineup and even Apple's smart glasses project. This week also saw big news with former Apple design guru Jony Ive joining forces with OpenAI to build future AI-driven devices, while Fortnite returned to the U.S. App Store for the first time...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature 2

Apple Rumored to Redesign the iPhone Every Year Through to 2027

Tuesday May 27, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly preparing to implement significant iPhone hardware redesigns each year for the next three generations. According leaks from the Chinese supply chain disclosed by Weibo user "Digital Chat Station," Apple plans to carry out a series of phased industrial design changes affecting different parts of the iPhone across three consecutive years: 2025, 2026, and 2027. The changes...
iCloud General Feature Redux

Apple Raises iCloud+ Prices in Three Countries

Monday May 26, 2025 1:45 pm PDT by
Apple recently raised prices for its iCloud+ plans in Brazil, Chile, and Peru, according to a support document updated last Thursday. The table below outlines the price changes in each country. Country Old Prices New Prices Brazil 50GB: R$ 4.90 200GB: R$ 14.90 2TB: R$ 49.90 6TB: R$ 149.90 12TB: R$ 299.90 50GB: R$ ...
Emergency SOS via Satellite iPhone YT

Report: Apple Planned to Offer Starlink-Like Home Internet Service

Tuesday May 27, 2025 7:08 am PDT by
Apple had plans to offer a Starlink-like satellite home internet service in collaboration with Boeing, The Information reports. Starting in 2015, Apple held discussions with Boeing about "Project Eagle," a plan to launch a service to provide wireless internet services to iPhones and homes. The companies would have launched thousands of satellites into orbit around the Earth to beam internet...

Top Rated Comments

bbeagle Avatar
128 months ago
Society is getting lazier and lazier. Too much effort with a wallet eh? Sheesh.
So anything convenient is lazy?

I guess Remote controls are just for lazy people?
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
patjem Avatar
128 months ago
It's not exactly payment but I stayed in Brussels last weekend at a SPG hotel that allowed me to open the hotel door with Apple Watch. A great experience http://verkeersbureaus.info/contributors/2015/08/18/67020-met-apple-watch-je-hotelkamer-openen/
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
friedmud Avatar
128 months ago
You gotta draw the line somewhere. Seen the movie Wall-E yet? Once everything becomes convenient as you say, we will be doing next to nothing. Just sayin'
Wall-E is satire... Not a foretelling!

Since I got the watch I've used Apple Pay (and Starbucks and movie tickets and plane tickets) on it everywhere I can.

I've also lost 20 pounds, using the activity rings to motivate me.

Is it possible that convenience gives us more time to do the things we want (like exercise, spending time with family, playing with the dog, going on an evening walk) rather than the things we have to do (like paying for stuff)?

Nah - convenience must be all about just making us fat and lazy /s
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Roller Avatar
128 months ago
Apple Pay on the watch is very convenient. Unfortunately, not enough retailers accept Apple Pay yet.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
128 months ago
I concur with this. Easy to use and it's never not worked for me. Now we just need Pay in more locations.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RichTF Avatar
128 months ago
I have been behind a few people trying to use Apple Pay on their watch and it certainly isn't convenient for me to watch them make several attempts before pulling out their wallets and paying in cash.
And yet I've never had it fail once. Interesting. :rolleyes:
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)