Cannot add card to Apple Pay

Ask the banks if your Authentication Path is Green, Yellow, Orange or Red . If they tell you, I can possibly be more specific on the cause of your blockage. Banks generally won’t reveal that information because it’s considered proprietary. Green indicates no identity/security issue. The other three require additional procedures and it’s failing.

If you’ve agreed to the terms and conditions, that’s a multi step process and it indicates everything is working because your iPhone has been communicating with the bank. Once you agree to the Terms & Conditions, your iPhone sends the agreed to terms and your 3 or 4 digit security code. Your iPhone is out of the process. The receipt of the security code starts the verification process with the payment network and the bank. If it’s your iPhones fault or Apple’s fault, why has the bank told you all that?

The other factor is the Payment Network blocking the card. Just because a card is added to one device is irrelevant to another device. Banks verify cards to prevent fraud. The verification is by device and not account. When a person’s identity and financial information are compromised they do not want to block the legitimate owner, just the bad actors. Hence, they can be added to one device and not another. If you’re referring to Goggle Pay, Google uses different methods which are less secure.

Hey! How are you doing? After deeply analyzing your message, I understood that you need assistance with your Apple Pay Card Compatibility.

If the bank told that it isn't their fault, it is most probably because your Card/Bank simply does not support Apple Pay.

Apple Pay Compatibility

(You simply click on your country/region and it shows the list of Banks/Cards which are working with Apple Pay)

I had the same problem when I upgraded to a new iphone recently. I also tried everything on these forums including resets, checking region, passcode, contacting bank and apple support, etc. I can't say any of that helped. Retrying adding cards over and over again multiple times probably made matters worse.

Eventually after several weeks, I was able to add all my cards again like normal.

I think whatever is going on behind the scenes, it will resolve itself with time. If you've tried everything already, then the only solution is to leave Apple Pay alone for a few weeks, and try again after that. It will probably fix itself.

Banks and Payment Networks can set an attempt timer. It can be set with as few as 5 failed attempts. This is a form of fraud protection. It can reset in as little as a day (24 hours), but as you discovered, it can be weeks or even months.

Apple does not control resetting the clock, it is triggered on the bank or payment networks end.

This sounds like the banks are blocking you adding cards. Once a card is failed to add, it’s likely when you attempt to add and verify another card (from another bank) the iPhone notifies the bank and payment network of the failed card and they’ll fail their respective card.

Yes, a passcode is required if a payment method is in your Apple Wallet app. This helps prevent fraudulent use of your credit and debit cards. Occasionally it’s necessary, but generally not.

How many times did you try adding the card, more than 5 attempts?

Yep, there is definitely a timer or counter of some sort somewhere in the software integration chain. Probably on the bank or payment network side. And customer support doesn’t know about it either - intentionally or unintentionally.

@OP There is no specific known solution to this problem unfortunately. Just stop trying to add cards for a week or two at a minimum.

Most (all?) have the attempts set at 5. That’s the lowest amount and gives the card owner allowance if they mistyped and entered information wrong, etc. More than 5 attempts and banks consider it a possible fraudulent attempts to add a compromised card/account to Apple Pay. Apple then reports the stopped card to any other bank if an attempt to add another card made. This helps prevent fraudulent use of cards issued by different banks.

The issue is the Payment Network has a hand preventing fraud also. It may be MasterCard, Visa, American Express etc. that has flagged the device for fraud. So, when the bank says it’s good, it may be on their system, but the payment network is blocking the device.

Hi, I am experiencing the exact same issue (from France). When I switched from Iphone SE to a new Iphone 13 mini, I tried to add a new card to my wallet. I got the error message "Cannot add card" so I tried again a couple of times with 3 different bank cards (from different banks) and wasn't able to fix it. So I decided to remove all the cards from the wallet and reset the Iphone. Wasn't helpful at all. Now when I'm trying to add a new card, I'm experiencing the same situation all over again. Apple assistance wasn't helpful...I don't know what to do...

It’s a bank or Payment Network (Mastercard, Visa etc.) issue. The bank or the payment network has a block on the accounts/cards being added. When one bank or respective network blocks a card, that information is shared to the other banks and networks.

I’m happy to run through various troubleshooting steps involving iPhone, but just be aware that the conclusion might still be what I wrote above. If you want to run through the steps, it’s best to create a new post/thread and not mix multiple issues that spam the OP and others.