card not added, contact issuer

Yeah I did go through this recently when upgrading to a new iphone, and technically the issue is still not fully resolved. But eventually I was able to add some of my cards back. I do wonder how common this issue is for people migrating between different apple devices.

Apple will always come back after investigating and say it is the payment network operator (visa/mastercard/etc.) that is denying the request for some reason. They are probably right. The banks will be somewhat clueless about that though. I haven't tried contacting them recently to push them to reach out to the PNO, because in the past they had no idea what I was talking about.

I had partial success after doing many resets over and over again by disabling the passcode on my phone (this will remove all your cards from your wallet!!!), re-enabling the passcode, and retrying adding the cards via the Wallet app (some successfully added). So for me it was a combination of time plus trying random things I saw on these forums. Some cards I still can't add though.

Apple has limited things they can do. The vast majority of adding a card is processes that the Payment Network and the bank control. Apple has very limited settings that it has direct control of in the process. The bank or payment network has a fixed amount of time to respond with the information your iPhone requests. If the bank or payment network doesn’t send the data, iPhone displays a message to contact your bank. If the error was on iPhones end, message is different, such as card couldn’t be added try again later.

Apple can monitor the 3 server side calls, but if the bank (payment network) doesn’t respond in the allotted time or data is incomplete and error is generated and the card is not added. Apple engineers can monitor the process, but understand the data is encrypted and Apple does not have the key.

>>When a user adds a credit, debit or pre-paid card (including store cards) to Apple Wallet, Apple securely sends the card information, along with other information about user’s account and device, to the card issuer or card issuer’s authorised service provider. Using this information, the card issuer determines whether to approve adding the card to Apple Wallet. As part of the card provisioning process, Apple Pay uses three server-side calls to send and receive communication with the card issuer or network:

• Required Fields
• Check Card
• Link and Provision

The card issuer or network uses these calls to verify, approve and add cards to Apple Wallet. These client-server sessions use TLS 1.2 to transfer the data.

Full card numbers aren’t stored on the device or on Apple Pay servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is created, encrypted and then stored in the Secure Element. This unique Device Account Number is encrypted in such a way that Apple can’t access it. The Device Account Number is unique and different from most credit or debit card numbers; the card issuer or payment network can prevent its use on a magnetic stripe card, over the phone or on websites. The Device Account Number in the Secure Element is never stored on Apple Pay servers or backed up to iCloud, and it is isolated from iOS, iPadOS and watchOS devices, and from Mac computers with Touch ID.

Cards for use with Apple Watch are provisioned for Apple Pay using the Apple Watch app on iPhone or within a card issuer’s iPhone app. Adding a card to Apple Watch requires that the watch be within Bluetooth communications range. Cards are specifically enrolled for use with Apple Watch and have their own Device Account Numbers which are stored within the Secure Element on the Apple Watch.

When credit, debit or pre-paid cards (including store cards) are added, they appear on a list of cards during Setup Assistant on devices that are signed in to the same iCloud account. These cards remain on this list for as long as they are active on at least one device. Cards are removed from this list after they have been removed from all devices for 7 days. This feature requires two-factor authentication to be enabled on the respective iCloud account.<<

Card provisioning security overview - Apple Support (IN)

Apple pointed you in the correct direction. Sounds like Payment Network (Mastercard) has a token block on the devices. Apple can’t remove tokens, only bank and payment networks.

While the issue isn’t common, it does happen. Fortunately for you the bank has pointed you in the right direction. Many bank support personnel are not properly trained in regard to Apple Pay, in my opinion.

Have you reset network settings and/or reset all settings on the iPhone?

The service request has to go from your bank to MasterCard. This is not an issue that you can address directly with MasterCard. What level of support are you at with your bank? Has your bank support team attempted to contact MasterCard?

My best advice is to not play both ends against each other. It leads to confusion and contradictory advice and generally delays any full resolution of the issue. Since, you’ve made contact with Apple Support and have a case number, I’m going to suggest you stick to working with them and I’m bowing out. I will leave you with one thought, Apple Pay and Google Pay, Samsung Pay are different and don’t follow the verification procedures and processes Apple Pay uses. The fact it works on Android doesn’t establish any baseline and is irrelevant to working on iPhone with Apple Pay.

That’s an incorrect assumption. Android pay works differently than Apple Pay, so it’s no surprise that one may work and the other doesn’t. Your theory also lends equal credibility that because it affects all your cards, it’s a device issue. If they are all issued by the same bank, it could be a bank issue. It could just as easily be a mix of bank issue and payment network issue.

What bank, it will be helpful for the community?