Apple Pay Coming to Israel By End of Year, Now Available at Bank of Ireland

Apple has signed an agreement with one of Israel's leading credit card companies to bring Apple Pay to the country by the end of the year, according to Ynet.

isracard
Isracard announced to the stock exchange that it has signed an agreement with Apple for four years that will allow its card to be used in Apple's digital payment method.

Apple has been in negotiations with financial institutions in the Middle East to bring ‌Apple Pay‌ to Israel since February. Apple routinely takes commission from national banking institutions in return for access to ‌‌Apple Pay‌, and it appears that Isracard is the first credit card company in the country to formulate an agreement with Apple.

Many Israeli businesses have already adopted the Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) standard for mobiles, allowing customer account credentials to be loaded directly onto NFC-enabled smartphones and used in contactless transactions.

Unlike Android devices, Apple's devices don't allow access to the NFC chip through apps other than Apple's own Wallet app, which means financial bodies must sign an ‌‌Apple Pay‌‌ agreement that allows the card to be registered in the Wallet.

Apple maintains a complete list of the countries where ‌‌‌Apple Pay‌‌‌ is available on its support site, and we have a detailed Apple Pay roundup with everything you need to know about Apple's payments service.

Update: ‌Apple Pay‌ is also now available at Bank of Ireland.

(Thanks, Ohad and forum member iLoveDeveloping!)

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: Israel

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Production Will Reportedly Begin Ramping Up in October

Tuesday July 23, 2024 2:00 pm PDT by
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Kuo: Ultra-Thin iPhone 17 to Feature A19 Chip, Single Rear Camera, Semi-Titanium Frame, and More

Wednesday July 24, 2024 9:06 am PDT by
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Less Than Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Thursday July 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
icloud private relay outage

iCloud Private Relay Experiencing Outage

Thursday July 25, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...

Top Rated Comments

alexandr Avatar
49 months ago
given the size of the country, they should be done end of week.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
daPersonB Avatar
49 months ago

Things with Apple Pay roll out are almost always due to banks. Every institution needs to strike a deal and license to be able to have the technology available on their cards.

Even in the US we have certain debit/credit cards that don't support Apple Pay, even if other cards issued by the same exact bank do.
Not necessarily.. Apparently, Apple's commission of 0.15% to 0.25% was a bit high for the banks and other institutions, and after an extensive negotiation, Apple agreed to lower the commission to 0.05% (which is, in fact, one of the lowest rates compared to states where Apple Pay is currently available).
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
eyalben Avatar
49 months ago

Not aware of any ARM manufacturing going on in Israel, but even if there is, what is the connection between chip manufacturing and merchants accepting Apple Pay?
There isn’t any connection ?‍♂️

Apple’s development center in Israel is the one responsible for the Apple chips design, not the manufacturing.

On the other hand, some of Intel’s CPUs are designed and manufactured in Israel so Apple transition to ARM could potentially affect Intel’s business in this country.

It is still unrelated to Apple Pay :)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DinkThifferent Avatar
49 months ago
I’m surprised that it took this long. I always thought that because Israel is kind of a tech hub in the Middle East things like Apple Pay would come sooner.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kylo83 Avatar
49 months ago

wasn’t ARM UK made?
The team behind the new cpu chips are an Israeli company; in the keynote they should the guy speaking about it from Israel my mate works for high tech in Israel
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
votdfak Avatar
49 months ago

If needs to take off the mask to pay than is better to use the credit card folks!
Does not apply for Apple Watch. That's the best way to enjoy Apple Pay.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)