Kroger Begins Accepting Apple Pay After Years of Holding Out

Kroger this week began accepting Apple Pay and other contactless payment methods at select locations in Kentucky and Ohio, allowing customers to tap to pay with an iPhone or Apple Watch at checkout, according to customers on Reddit and Twitter.

Apple Pay Kroger
It's unclear how many Kroger locations are now accepting Apple Pay, or if NFC-based payments will be expanded to all of the over 1,200 grocery stores that operate under the namesake Kroger brand. We have reached out to a company spokesperson for comment and will update this story if we receive any additional information.

Kroger was one of the largest Apple Pay holdouts in the U.S. since the service launched in 2014, alongside Walmart, The Home Depot, and Lowe's. Kroger did roll out Apple Pay at some of its other grocery chains in the past few years, including Ralphs in California, QFC in Washington and Oregon, and King Soopers in Colorado and Wyoming.

Kroger-owned chain Fred Meyer also recently started accepting Apple Pay at its stores in the Northwest, a spokesperson confirmed, while its North Carolina-based banner Harris Teeter tweeted it is "working towards accepting Apple Pay."

In a press release last year, Apple said that Apple Pay was accepted at more than 90% of U.S. retailers, and Kroger is a significant addition. The company also continues to offer its own service called Kroger Pay, which requires customers to scan a QR code at checkout to pay with a debit or credit card stored in the Kroger app.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4

Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
CarPlay Pinned Messages

iOS 26.2 Adds New CarPlay Setting

Thursday November 13, 2025 6:48 am PST by
iOS 26 extended pinned conversations in the Messages app to CarPlay, for quick access to your most frequent chats. However, some drivers may prefer the classic view with a list of individual conversations only, and Apple now lets users choose. Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.2 this week, and it introduces a new CarPlay setting for turning off pinned conversations in the Messages...
Tesla Charging

Tesla Working to Add Apple CarPlay Support to Vehicles

Thursday November 13, 2025 8:31 am PST by
Tesla is working to add support for Apple CarPlay in its vehicles, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Tesla vehicles rely on its own infotainment software system, which integrates vehicle functions, navigation, music, web browsing, and more. The automaker has been an outlier in foregoing support for Apple CarPlay, which has otherwise become an industry standard feature, allowing users to...
tvOS 26 Profiles

tvOS 26.2 Adds a Useful New Feature to Your Apple TV

Friday November 14, 2025 10:02 am PST by
Starting with the upcoming tvOS 26.2 update, currently in beta, additional profiles created on the Apple TV no longer require their own Apple Account. In the Settings app on the Apple TV, under Profiles and Accounts, anyone can create a new profile by simply entering a name and indicating whether the profile is for a kid. The profile will be associated with the primary user's Apple Account,...
iPhone Pocket Short

iPhone Pocket Now Available to Order, But Already Selling Out

Friday November 14, 2025 6:20 am PST by
Apple recently teamed up with Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE to create the iPhone Pocket, a limited-edition knitted accessory designed to carry an iPhone. iPhone Pocket is available to order on Apple's online store starting today, in the United States, France, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. However, it is already completely sold out in the United...
homepod mini thumb feature

New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and AirTag Were Expected This Year — Where Are They?

Wednesday November 12, 2025 11:42 am PST by
While it was rumored that Apple planned to release new versions of the HomePod mini, Apple TV, and AirTag this year, it is no longer clear if that will still happen. Back in January, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple planned to release new HomePod mini and Apple TV models "toward the end of the year," while he at one point expected a new AirTag to launch "around the middle of 2025." Yet,...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Available Next Month With These 8 New Features

Tuesday November 11, 2025 9:48 am PST by
Apple released the first iOS 26.2 beta last week. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date....
m1 chip slide

Five Years of Apple Silicon: M1 to M5 Performance Comparison

Monday November 10, 2025 1:08 pm PST by
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Apple silicon chip that replaced Intel chips in Apple's Mac lineup. The first Apple silicon chip, the M1, was unveiled on November 10, 2020. The M1 debuted in the MacBook Air, Mac mini, and 13-inch MacBook Pro. The M1 chip was impressive when it launched, featuring the "world's fastest CPU core" and industry-leading performance per watt, and it's only ...
walmart new ornametns

Walmart Black Friday Deals Begin Today With Low Prices on Headphones, TVs, and More

Friday November 14, 2025 7:55 am PST by
Walmart's Black Friday sale has officially kicked off today, with an online shopping event that's also seeing some matching deals in retail locations. There are quite a few major discounts in this sale, including savings on headphones, TVs, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Walmart. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us...
iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.2 Beta 2

Wednesday November 12, 2025 3:29 pm PST by
Apple today provided developers with the second beta of iOS 26.2, which adds a few new features worth knowing about. Measure App Apple's Measure app now features a Liquid Glass design for the level, with two Liquid Glass bubbles instead of white circles. Games App There's now an option to sort games in the Games app Library by size, in addition to Name and Recent. CarPlay The...

Top Rated Comments

kylew1212 Avatar
34 months ago
Wow! Did I die and just not get the memo?

Certainly didn’t see this coming anytime soon.
Please let Home Depot & Lowe’s be next.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Reason077 Avatar
34 months ago
It’s quite strange from the UK perspective that there are still stores in the US which block Apple Pay.

Acceptance here is 100%, so much so that I can go everywhere with just my phone/watch to pay for things and not even think about my wallet.

And cash? I can barely remember the last time I needed an ATM…
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kognos Avatar
34 months ago
Kroger pay is an abomination. They don't have any idea how to make something easy or quick. Launching an app and then going into that app to get a QR code to then scan physically is not something you want to see anyone do - it's like the equivalent of seeing someone be told "that'll be 32.50 ma'am" and then seeing them act surprised that they need to pay, and open up their purse to rummage for the chequebook and a pen and start writing. It's like scary slow.

Contactless payment should be standard, and not just Apple Pay. Kroger just are incredibly cheap and won't modernize. It's pretty bad honestly when my 7-11 will take anything but Kroger will not.

Bear in mind that Kroger claimed they did this before in a similar limited market and claimed that there wasn't a lot of desire for it. Don't be fooled - they are only trying to prevent modernization and that expense.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DocMultimedia Avatar
34 months ago
Everything should accept Apple pay. And others.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrRom92 Avatar
34 months ago
It amazes me how far ahead Europe is when it comes to this stuff. Totally different world. Here in the US using a physical card is still a daily occurrence, Apple Pay terminals are more common than they once were but they’re still the exception rather than the rule. I still often get looked at like I just did some crazy wizard stuff when I try to use Apple Pay here. And in any restaurant, handing over your card is still the standard procedure. There’s no way to use Apple Pay even if you wanted to.

On the other hand, Just spent a week in London and I didn’t so much as even LOOK at my card the entire time, not even once. Or paper money either, for that matter. No matter where I went, even restaurants. Apple Pay/tap to pay terminals are e v e r y w h e r e and that’s what you’re expected to use. Just a normal part of daily life, as it should be.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
name99 Avatar
34 months ago

Apple charges more in processing fees than the standard credit card does.
No they don't! In fact Apple Pay charges no extra fees, and the Merchant Fees are slightly reduced compared to standard credit cards. They also get a slightly reduced rate because the tech they use makes fraud harder, so the "insurance" part of the fees goes dow (ie they only pay the NFC rate, not the magnetic swipe rate, for obvious reasons)

At least so claims: https://blog.clover.com/apple-pay-for-business-what-will-it-cost-me/
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)