Apple Pay Support Begins Rolling Out for Select Banks in South Africa

In January, MacRumors reported that Apple Pay was likely to launch in South Africa sometime this year. As expected, ‌Apple Pay‌ has now started to go live in the country for customers of a select number of banks.

apple pay contactless terminal
MacRumors readers and bank customers on Twitter report seeing prompts to add their cards to ‌Apple Pay‌. So far, it seems that only Discovery, Nedbank, and Absa customers are able to add their cards to Apple's Wallet app.


To add a card to ‌Apple Pay‌, customers should open the Wallet app, tap the plus button, and follow the on-screen instructions. It's important to note that banks must first add support for ‌Apple Pay‌. Attempting to add an unsupported bank card will result in a pop-up reading, "Your issuer does not yet offer support for this card."

Apple's South African website hasn't yet been updated to reflect ‌Apple Pay‌'s rollout in the country, which isn't unusual, as rollout seems to have just begun in the past few hours.

Apple first launched ‌Apple Pay‌ in 2014 in the United States, and in the years since, it's slowly expanded to more countries around the world. Last month, ‌Apple Pay‌ officially launched in Mexico.

(Thanks Grant, Pieter, and Ludolph!)

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

'New' iPhone SE Product Listing Appears on French Website

Wednesday February 12, 2025 6:49 am PST by
As the wait continues for Apple's long-rumored, fourth-generation iPhone SE, French electronics retailer Boulanger has prematurely published a product listing for a "new" model of the iPhone SE. The placeholder page says the device is "coming soon," but it offers no further information, and the price shown is obviously not real. The listing was spotted by a reader of the French technology...
apple launch feb 2025 alt

What to Expect From the 'Apple Launch' Next Week

Thursday February 13, 2025 11:48 am PST by
Apple has yet to announce any new devices this year, but that could change starting next week. Apple CEO Tim Cook today said to "get ready" for a "launch" on Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," said Cook, in a social media post. The post includes an #AppleLaunch hashtag, along with a short video featuring an animated Apple logo inside of a circle....
apple launch feb 2025

Tim Cook Teases an 'Apple Launch' Next Wednesday

Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag. The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle. Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
iPhone 17 Pro Render Front Page Tech

iPhone 17 Pro With All-New Camera Bar Design Allegedly Revealed

Thursday February 13, 2025 5:49 pm PST by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro will feature three rear cameras arranged in a familiar triangular layout, but the cameras will be housed in an all-new rectangular camera bar with rounded corners, according to YouTube channel Front Page Tech. iPhone 17 Pro camera design render created by Asher for Front Page Tech In a video uploaded today, Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser said the camera ...
M4 mini Glowing Blue

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished M4 Macs

Wednesday February 12, 2025 11:35 am PST by
Apple today added MacBook Pro and Mac mini models with M4 series chips to its certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland for the first time since the computers were introduced in October 2024. Some refurbished MacBook Pro models with M4 chips are also available in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and select other European countries. ...
M4 Mac mini Apple Video

Apple's Refurbished Mac Mini Pricing Has a Problem

Thursday February 13, 2025 6:20 am PST by
Apple this week began selling refurbished Mac mini models with the M4 chip for the first time, but this has led to a pricing conundrum. In the United States, Apple is offering a refurbished Mac mini with the base M4 chip, 256GB of storage, 16GB of RAM, and Gigabit Ethernet for $509, down from $599 new. This is the standard 15% discount that Apple offers on refurbished Macs. The issue is...
Apple Ad on X

Apple Resumes Advertising on X

Wednesday February 12, 2025 2:18 pm PST by
Apple this month started advertising on X for the first time in more than a year. The company had stopped advertising on the social media platform in November 2023 following controversial remarks made by its owner Elon Musk. For example, the @Apple account is running an ad promoting Safari's privacy features. The ad was spotted by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The @AppleTV account has a...
iPhone 16 Apple Store

iPhone 17 in New Sizes This Year: What to Know

Thursday February 13, 2025 2:45 am PST by
Last year, Apple tweaked iPhone 16 Pro screen sizes to make them bigger than 2023's iPhone 15 Pro models, and this year we are also expecting a change in the size of the displays in the iPhone 17 lineup. Here's what we know. Standard iPhone 17 Apple could introduce a new display size for the standard iPhone 17 model in 2025. The iPhone 17 could measure in at 6.3 inches, up from 6.1 inches,...
iphone air concept weis

iPhone 17 Air Could Look Like This in Real Life

Friday February 14, 2025 3:41 am PST by
There have been several alleged leaked details of the iPhone 17 Air, Apple's rumored new slim iPhone, but images have been limited to grainy shots taken in component factories. However, this hyper-realistic concept created by WEIS Studio gives us the best idea yet of what Apple's thin device might actually look like. The concept design is inspired by recent leaks indicating that the device...

Top Rated Comments

TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
51 months ago
Nice to see the global expansion.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
davidventer Avatar
51 months ago

In about 4-6 years, Apple Pay will be accepted around the globs. And in about 6-10 years, Apple Pay may be accepted at every store besides the ones that do membership.
It’s already accepted around the globe. You can literally use it anywhere contactless / tap to pay / NFC terminals are used. The hold up is the fact that not all bank cards can be used through Apple Pay yet. But if you have an Apple Pay compatible card, you can use Apple Pay anywhere where contactless payment is accepted, even in countries where linking a local bank card to Apple Pay isn’t possible.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mccdyl001 Avatar
51 months ago
Surprising to see that two of South Africa's larger banks, FNB and Standard Bank, are not on board from day one. They like to tout that they're modern and in with the times, but it looks like they were caught napping at the wheel. Nice to see 1st world technology finally arriving on our shores (even if it took 6+ years to get here!)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Separo Avatar
51 months ago
Can confirm works with Nedbank cards ?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)