Walmart Still Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in U.S. Despite Many Customer Requests

A quick search on Twitter reveals that Walmart faces numerous requests to accept Apple Pay on a daily basis, but the big-box retailer still does not accept the iPhone's tap-to-pay service at its over 4,700 stores across the United States.

Apple Pay Feature
Walmart has instead committed to its own payments service called Walmart Pay, available through the Walmart app on the iPhone. Instead of using NFC technology like Apple Pay and many other mobile wallets, Walmart Pay allows customers to scan a QR code displayed at checkout to pay for their purchase with a payment card stored in the app.

"We do not accept NFC and instead have implemented convenient solutions, such as Walmart Pay, that provide our customers easy, touchless payments on any smartphone," a Walmart spokesperson told MacRumors this week. "We have also invested in innovative technologies that go beyond payments, such as Scan & Go, which allow Sam's Club and Walmart+ members to bypass the checkout altogether."

There are certainly some benefits for Walmart in pushing its own mobile payments service, including getting more customers to download the Walmart app, being able to track a customer's purchase history, and avoiding Apple Pay fees, but it's clear that Walmart is ignoring one of its customers' most frequent requests as a result.

Apple Pay launched just over eight years ago, on October 20, 2014. In a press release earlier this year, Apple said that Apple Pay is accepted at more than 90 percent of U.S. retailers, with some major holdouts including Walmart, The Home Depot, Lowe's, and Kroger. Walmart did start accepting Apple Pay in Canada in late 2020.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

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Top Rated Comments

ian87w Avatar
35 months ago
I guess just like Apple not willing to adopt RCS? ?
Walmart does what it does because it can, and it's not stopping people from shopping at Walmart.
Score: 59 Votes (Like | Disagree)
boombashi Avatar
35 months ago

I guess we BOYCOTT Walmart until they do
How about boycott Walmart permanently. Such a terrible company.
Score: 52 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Heat_Fan89 Avatar
35 months ago

I guess we BOYCOTT Walmart until they do
You can and I won't. I don't see Tim Cook offering to pay for my groceries.
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ProfessionalFan Avatar
35 months ago

Mostly. It's for people who only care about price, not quality or their own time.
I must be weird. I own various apple products and have shopped at Walmart. I never felt out of place or that it was beneath me. Seems like snobbish behavior to think that way.
Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
segfaultdotorg Avatar
35 months ago
This is smart, waiting for the improved Apple iPay Pro.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Marswarrior462 Avatar
35 months ago

And they NEVER will. Walmart is a behemoth and does what's best for Walmart. They make money off of Walmart Pay transactions with Capitol One. At one point Walmart was leaning on its suppliers not to do business with Amazon because they didn't want any of their inner dealings finding its way to Amazon.
I guess we BOYCOTT Walmart until they do
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)