Target yesterday announced that all of its stores will begin accepting Apple Pay in the coming weeks, but it still won't be possible to add its store-branded REDcard debit or credit cards to the Apple Wallet app. REDcard is Target's loyalty program, offering an automatic five percent off most purchases everyday.
"REDcards cannot be added to Apple Pay as part of this rollout," a Target spokesperson confirmed with MacRumors today.
This means paying with a REDcard will still require inserting the physical card into the payment terminal or adding it to Target's mobile app and having the cashier scan a barcode at the checkout. The latter method requires opening the Target app and tapping on the Wallet tab to access the barcode.
Both options are less convenient than Apple Pay, which requires a quick double-click of the side button and authentication with Face ID on the iPhone X and newer, or briefly resting your finger on Touch ID on older iPhones.
Target already suggested that REDcards would not support Apple Pay on Twitter, but its "at this time" phrasing wasn't entirely clear.
Of course, Target could decide to allow REDcards to be added to the Apple Wallet app in the future. The retailer had avoided accepting Apple Pay entirely for several years until reversing course with this week's announcement, so it might be only a matter of time before it changes its mind again.
Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by Juli Clover
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing.
Test Settings
I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
Friday October 24, 2025 7:18 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
At least some new iPhone models launching next year may support full 5G satellite internet, according to a report this week from The Information.
"Apple plans to add support in upcoming iPhones as early as next year for 5G networks that aren't tethered to Earth's surface, which includes satellites," the report said. "That would give the iPhone full internet access over satellite," it added.
...
Thursday October 23, 2025 3:55 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is one of several tech companies that will contribute to the construction of U.S. President Donald Trump's 90,000-square-foot ballroom, reports CNN.
Construction began on the ballroom this week, and the White House's east wing was torn down. Trump claims that the ballroom will cost $350 million, and that it will be privately funded through donations. The cost has already increased $150 ...
Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 could feature 50% more memory than its predecessor, according to Korea's The Bell.
With its latest iPhone lineup, the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature 12GB of memory. This is a significant increase of 4GB more their predecessors, largely driven by the demands of on-device artificial intelligence processing.
The iPhone 17 is the only new...
Apple's new iPhone lineup launched in the fall of 2027 will be called the "iPhone 20" models, rather than the "iPhone 19," according to research firm Omdia.
Speaking at a conference in Seoul (via ETNews), Omdia Chief Researcher Heo Moo-yeol corroborated rumors that Apple plans to move the launch of its standard iPhone to the first half of the year and provided some additional clarity about...
In July, Apple sued well-known YouTuber Jon Prosser and his acquaintance Michael Ramacciotti over alleged theft of the company's trade secrets, after Prosser leaked some iOS 26 details in videos uploaded to his YouTube channel Front Page Tech. If you are not caught up on the lawsuit, read our initial coverage to learn more.
Earlier this week, Prosser told The Verge he has "been in active...
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest rumors about the iPhone Air not selling as well as Apple hoped.
Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos
There have been many recent reports suggesting the iPhone Air has failed to catch on with consumers, with Apple moving to cut production due to lower-than-expected sales. The first warning sign was...
Translation: red card is about collecting user purchasing data?
Exactly. People get seduced by the 5% discount. But Target profits significantly from being able to track and commoditize absolutely every purchase, not only for themselves but presumably that they can also sell to data brokers. Conversely, Apple Pay is designed with the user's privacy in mind. As I understand it, for each transaction a unique payment number is generated and your personal information and credit card number is not shared with the merchant. Great for privacy and especially for security. I don't know if Apple has negotiated with merchants who have store cards to allow them to pass along data in these scenarios. I'm inclined to say they have not, especially in light of Target's stance in this situation.
Can't they do something like Walgreens with their loyalty card? It is linked to a log in with user data and is pretty seamless with apple pay. Just tap and it goes first then a second tap to pay. They get loyalty info I get a reward.
Bummer. I was really hoping for this. I don’t think this is about tracking purchases as they could still do that with Apple Pay. I think it has more to do with fees.
