AfterDawn: News

WWDC: Apple Pay now supports rewards programs and Passbook gets renamed

Today at the WWDC event, Apple announced a significant update to their Apple Pay mobile payments system.

The service will now support rewards programs and store credit cards in addition to major processor-backed credit and debit cards.In addition, Apple has renamed their Passbook app to Wallet, which does seem like a more apt name.



Beginning later this year with the launch of iOS 9, Apple Pay will begin supporting Walgreens Balance Rewards, Kohl's, Coca-Cola, Dunkin' Donuts, Panera Bread, and Wegmans rewards cards. The cards will be stored like your everyday use cards and Apple Pay will supposedly select your rewards card automatically when you place the phone to the reader.

Finally, the new updated Apple Maps in iOS 9 will show you when a merchant supports Apple Pay (a number that is slowly by surely growing) and Discover card support will also be added this fall.

Apple currently owns the market for digital payments but will have some big time competition in the coming months with the launch of Android Pay by Google and Samsung Pay by Samsung.



Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 8 Jun 2015 20:29

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• 3 comments

• hearme0

  Apple pay is going to fail. Society isn't ready for that yet. Maybe in 50 years.......maybe.

  8.6.2015 20:43 #1

• Morreale

  Something such as this is actually useful. Its annoying for some services to have their reward programs collected on a separate card, so you have to load up your wallet with two cards for one use. I'll never store my primary credit info in an app when it's easy enough to pull the one card out of my wallet and tap it, but for the extra crap like rewards and gift cards, why not?
  

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  8.6.2015 21:32 #2

• dparri526

  Actually, Apple pay is awesome. Then only drawback is the lack of retailers accepting it. My hope is that by the end of the year, when nearly all retailers have to change out their credit card terminals, that a majority will have to take Apple Pay, Android Pay, and any others that may come around.
  
  These options are way more secure than handing a credit card to the cashier. In addition, the credit card #s are never shown on the phone. With fingerprint technology, anyone who might come across the phone, theft or loss, would not be able to use it to purchase anything.

  10.6.2015 23:37 #3