Roger Fingas
U.S. pharmacy chain Walgreens is on the verge of introducing Apple Pay support for its Balance Rewards card, anecdotes from a number of users hinted on Wednesday.
Some people in the Balance Rewards program are now seeing their iOS Wallet version of the card supporting NFC by way of Apple Pay, according to MacRumors. People were previously able to add the card to Wallet, but could only bring it up for barcode scanning, not NFC transactions. The card may also show up as an NFC payment option on the Apple Watch.
In practice though, Walgreens retail terminals are so far refusing to accept any NFC transactions with the card.
Apple introduced support for loyalty and rewards cards in Wallet with last month's iOS 9 update, but retailers have been slow to jump on board.
The update also brought support for store-based credit cards, but only one merchant — Kohl's — is on the official Apple Pay roster. By contrast, there are over 600 supporting banks and credit unions in the U.S., and more than a dozen in the United Kingdom.
AppleInsider Staff
Malcolm Owen
Oliver Haslam
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14 Comments
Some people in the Balance Rewards program are now seeing their iOS Wallet version of the card supporting NFC by way of Apple Pay, according to MacRumors.
I wonder how Apple Pay has anything to do with this rewards card. If you redeem your rewards with an iPhone does the transaction some how go through the Apple servers?
be nice to see costco and BJ's wholesale add it to reward card i could also use to gain entry and also purchase items..
be nice to see costco and BJ's wholesale add it to reward card i could also use to gain entry and also purchase items..
Costco is dropping Amex, changing to Visa (I've heard Citibank) in March so I doubt you'll hear anything about them accepting ApplePay until then. Of course, Costco and Apple had a tif awhile back so it could take even longer before Costco agrees to work with Apple on anything new. The new Visa card will be a reward card and customers with Amex will be automatically transferred to the new card. I've asked cashiers before and they either didn't know what ApplePay was or said they hadn't heard anything.
Costco is dropping Amex, changing to Visa (I've heard Citibank) in March so I doubt you'll hear anything about them accepting ApplePay until then. Of course, Costco and Apple had a tif awhile back so it could take even longer before Costco agrees to work with Apple on anything new. The new Visa card will be a reward card and customers with Amex will be automatically transferred to the new card. I've asked cashiers before and they either didn't know what ApplePay was or said they hadn't heard anything.
thanks - maybe these giants would at least get their membership cards into passbook / wallet
Customers like us should demand(and start debate to boycott) these supermarkets like Costco, Kroger and whoever others out their to start supporting Apple Pay and similar payment system ASAP. Makes life much easier as you don't have to carry physical cards and worry to keep it safe. With Apple Pay, just worry one thing, your iphone to carry and protect. If get lost than protected by passcode and icloud lock.