Q: Why is Apple pay not working?

It may have nothing to do with your iPhone in that it could be the NFC at the EFT / PinPad Device at the Point-of-Sale.  I know that an internal memo went out Friday to CVS Pharmacy's for example that told Store Managers to turn off the NFC Scanners such that Apple Pay and Google Wallet wouldn't work.  I don't think this has or will happen at Walgreens in that they have announced acceptance of Apple Pay.  Never the less you may want to try your Apple Pay at another Walgreens or at least at a different Register if possible. 

Call your local Apple Store and make an appointment to have them check out your iPhone.

I had the same experience today when I tried (for the first time) to make purchases at my local Macys and Sports Authority. Both times the Apple Pay screen popped up when I held the phone (iPhone 6+) next to the pay point, showing my default card, and it read my fingerprint. But that's when the whole process stopped. Nothing else happened, and because there were other shoppers in line behind me, I had to pull out my debit card to complete the transaction. Needless to say, any potential Apple Pay customers in line behind me were not impressed. Nor was I.

Oh, and the nearest Apple Store is more than 300 miles from where I live (southern Oregon), so that's not an option for me.

What store did this happen to you in?

I've had the same result at Subway and Panera. I tap the phone against the POS, the card comes up, reads the fingerprint, says Done with a checkmark but then it does not go through on their side. I know it can work because I was able to use it successfully on a vending machine at a car dealership, oddly enough. Leads me to think it is not an issue specific to my phone but with the vendors? I was able to successfully use Apple Pay within the Panera App but not at the terminal in the restaurant. I submitted feedback forms because you can let the Apple Pay team know exactly where you tried to use it and give them the address, etc. Hopefully someone on their support team is looking at them. I found it rather annoying since these are vendors that were supposedly supposed to be working from the get go.

It could be as simple as the Point-of-Sale software and/or the EFT System software is anticipating very specific numeric fields from specific Cr Cards.  The Apple Pay data may be out of range and thus even tough the iPhone has received the correct positive response the Retailers systems have not. 

WoodWorks wrote:

 

I had the same experience today when I tried (for the first time) to make purchases at my local Macys and Sports Authority. Both times the Apple Pay screen popped up when I held the phone (iPhone 6+) next to the pay point, showing my default card, and it read my fingerprint. But that's when the whole process stopped. Nothing else happened, and because there were other shoppers in line behind me, I had to pull out my debit card to complete the transaction. Needless to say, any potential Apple Pay customers in line behind me were not impressed. Nor was I.

 

Oh, and the nearest Apple Store is more than 300 miles from where I live (southern Oregon), so that's not an option for me.

You are finding out first hand why other payment systems (like Google Wallet) have never caught on. The system is only as good as the weakest link, that being the merchants themselves. The clerk probably hit the wrong button, not understanding what you were doing. If you were not impressed then just turn it off and forget about it.

Nope, that wasn't the case at either Macys nor Sports Authority. Both clerks were fascinated by the process and eager to make it work. Had we had more time and nobody else in line, we might have been able to. After all I've seen enough online videos of successful transactions showing how easy the process "should" have been. And the setup on my phone to enable my cards was simple and easy. But clearly this technology isn't ready for prime time, and my fear is that it is yet another fumble (a la Maps) on Apple's part. It's a shame that they just can't seem to live up to some of the high-flying promises they make. They really shouldn't release this stuff until it's as easy to use (and works as surely) as swiping a debit card.

I'll go to my local Subway later today and give it a try there. But if it meets with the same failure as my other two attempts, that's strike three. And it will be a real shame to have to, as you say, forget about it.

i had this exact problem of putting my phone to the NFC reader and having nothing happen...tried it like 4 times until i started to feel really awkward when it came to paying with  my phone. Turns out that my NFC chip in the phone was broken and they ended up giving me a brand new phone, so I'm guessing the same will happen to you. Best of luck and i hope you get the apple pay fixed!

This morning on CBS - they showed a list of Banks who are accepting apple pay.  If your credit card is with a local bank it that may be the problem.

So those with the big bank cards may be having less of a problem.

Tim Cook in an interview said he was getting flooded with emails about how happy people were with apple pay - and the Apple person said they just passed 1million subscribers.

CVS and Rite Aid stopped accepting Apple Pay because they were in a group working to develop a payment system that takes the cash out of a debit card or checking account direct  -- rather than a credit card.

notcloudy wrote:

 

This morning on CBS - they showed a list of Banks who are accepting apple pay.  If your credit card is with a local bank it that may be the problem.

 

So those with the big bank cards may be having less of a problem.

If your bank card isn't on Apple's "accepted" list, you can't even authorize the card on your iPhone to begin with. And that step has to be done before you go out and try to use the phone at a store. So that's definitely not the problem some of us are having at a pay point.

FWIW, my card is from Chase, and it is accepted for use with Apple Pay. And also FWIW, I finally did mange to get it to work yesterday evening at my local Subway. Why it didn't work at Macys nor Sports Authority is still a mystery.

Just passing information on why apple pay may not work for all charge cards & in all places.

Other reasons may be the store has not turned it on as the cashiers have not been trained yet - or are never going to turn it on because they prefer cash.