Apple Pay outage stops Chase users from making payments

Chase customers are having problems using Apple Pay on Saturday, with attempts to pay using Apple's payment platform failing while an "unexpected upgrade" is allegedly underway.

A number of iPhone users who use Chase cards with Apple Pay discovered on Saturday that their payments were declining in stores while using Apple's payment platform. The problem wasn't with the card or the account, but only its link to Apple Pay.

Social media posts spotted by The Verge describe the failures as the card being declined when using Apple Pay. It appears that only Chase is affected, with other card issuers allowing payments as usual, and the Chase cards themselves also working fine.

The Apple Pay System Status page explains that, as of 12PM Eastern, Apple Pay & Wallet is undergoing maintenance, with "some users" affected. The status page adds that some Maryland users "may have issues during maintenance activities."

A call placed to the Chase customer service line resulted in a 15-minute wait time, with agents instructed to tell users Apple Pay is "going through maintenance" that involves an "unexpected upgrade."

The actual reason behind the outage remains unknown, and while it is clear Apple is aware of the issues, there is no timescale for it to be fixed.

4 Comments

jellybelly 135 comments · 15 Years

About 9 months ago

I had trouble getting my Apple Card to go through as Apple Pay over a week ago and had to use my Chase card. Then a day later the Apple Card worked through Apple Pay.

Perhaps all cards are going through a maintenance update and are being sequenced through different banks so customers that have an alternate card can switch which card they use.

I remember back when Apple Pay came out, that VISA and Mastercard were getting terminals updated for a new security measures on newly issued and mandatory replacement cards sent out—and that they required retail stores to replace their terminals. Part of the update on the cards was the hologram on one end of the front of the card.

IIRC: It turned out that the new terminals had Apple Pay compatibility turned on and CVS and Home Depot card terminals accepted Apple Pay. CVS and Home Depot were going to adopt Current-C (sp?), championed by Walmart (and consortium of partner retail companies) and as a result, the Apple Pay acceptance was turned off sometime after that when CVS and Home Depot figured out what was happening (or Walmart was pressuring them to hold them to their prior agreement). Consortium partners started to drop out of the partnership.
After long delays, Current-C never came out and eventually CVS accepted Apple Pay. Home Depot only accepted Apple Pay in the last year or two.

IIRC: Current-C was set up for loyalty programs and was going to collect customer transaction data on device in-App, and monetize it through distribution to Current-C partner retail companies, while Apple Pay transaction had just the required data for the transaction ( the companies can still continue to various purchase and customer data as well as store and branch data through their registers). Current-C also lacked security on device that Apple Pay held encrypted in the Secure Enclave chip.

Xed 2875 comments · 4 Years

About 9 months ago

jellybelly said:

I had trouble getting my Apple Card to go through as Apple Pay over a week ago and had to use my Chase card. Then a day later the Apple Card worked through Apple Pay.
Perhaps all cards are going through a maintenance update and are being sequenced through different banks so customers that have an alternate card can switch which card they use.

I remember back when Apple Pay came out, that VISA and Mastercard were getting terminals updated for a new security measures on newly issued and mandatory replacement cards sent out—and that they required retail stores to replace their terminals. Part of the update on the cards was the hologram on one end of the front of the card.

IIRC: It turned out that the new terminals had Apple Pay compatibility turned on and CVS and Home Depot card terminals accepted Apple Pay. CVS and Home Depot were going to adopt Current-C (sp?), championed by Walmart (and consortium of partner retail companies) and as a result, the Apple Pay acceptance was turned off sometime after that when CVS and Home Depot figured out what was happening (or Walmart was pressuring them to hold them to their prior agreement). Consortium partners started to drop out of the partnership.
After long delays, Current-C never came out and eventually CVS accepted Apple Pay. Home Depot only accepted Apple Pay in the last year or two.

IIRC: Current-C was set up for loyalty programs and was going to collect customer transaction data on device in-App, and monetize it through distribution to Current-C partner retail companies, while Apple Pay transaction had just the required data for the transaction ( the companies can still continue to various purchase and customer data as well as store and branch data through their registers). Current-C also lacked security on device that Apple Pay held encrypted in the Secure Enclave chip.

1) You can already switch which card you use in ApplePay. That has been there since day one.

2) Home Depot was never a member of MCX for the doomed-from-the-start CurrentC. Home Depot blocks all *Pay systems. Lowe's has finally started adopting ApplePay late last year. Walmart and Home Depot are still the biggest holdouts.