New iPad Wallet setup stuck after adding card

If the iPad stalled during setup as described, performing a restart was the correct step to move forward.

During initial setup of an iPad, it is perfectly normal to be prompted to add a Credit Card to your Apple Wallet. ApplePay is by far the most secure method to make an online payment for goods or services - as your actual card details are never shared with the vendor. Each ApplePay payment will use a unique payment identifier that cannot be used a second time by anyone - and therefore cannot be stolen to commit fraud. This differs from using your actual Credit Card details to make an inline payment - as the card details and CVV code can be "skimmed" and used again by anyone that can intercept the online transaction details.

If you don't wish to register a card, you can eliminate the prompt without actually registering a card with your Apple Wallet...

From where you are now, from iPad settings, tap the prompt to begin the adding a card to your wallet. If you do not wish to add a card for ApplePay, simply cancel/skip the process. The prompt will have been satisfied and won't reappear.

The way I got it setup fully, was to do the power and volume up and get it into restore mode. Plugged it into my Macbook and allowed it to update then ran the setup, not selecting restore from backup and creating it as a new solution. Now this issue could be due to a MDM (JAMF) profile, I am working with JAMF to see where it might be hanging but it didnt matter what option I selected when doing it before the restore mode, it would hang and just sit at a screen for over an hour. If JAMF finds anything, I will repost. This version of iOS I think is the issue though, just some bug with setup. I have another 4 M5 iPad Pros coming in next week and will try it again to see if it works or if I have to do the workaround again.

I got it to progress eventually by plugging the iPad into a Windows PC with iTunes. But I don't think iTunes did anything, perhaps it was just the action of plugging it in.

Luckily this household still has 1 ancient Windows 10 PC (the rest is Linux)... I installed iTunes, but the moment I plugged in the usb-c cable the iPad progressed to the next stage. iTunes didn't do anything as far as I am aware.

Ok, I got my partner's old win 10 laptop (the rest of the PCs is Linux), installed iTunes, but the moment I plugged in the cable, the iPad moved on and proceeded to install normally.

Weird but fixed.

After restart, it is now getting stuck in the setup screen when trying to pull down backups. So it has now been stuck 3 times during setup, Its been over an hour and its still not usable. This is a bug that needs to be looked at not a normal thing. I have setup hundreds of iPads and this M5 on OS26 is got something broken.

Same issue here. 2026 iPad A16.

Started with sticking on loading after Apple Wallet set up. After about an about an hour of nothing loading I reset the iPad and it now gets stuck on loading after the “Make This Your New iPad” screen (image attached). When stuck in this loading mode no on-screen buttons function.

This is THE WORST experience I’ve ever had with an Apple product. The device is unusable and nothing provided by support resolves this issue. Like other users have talked about, I don't have a Mac to plug into. Please help!

Also having the same issue. Also done a restart and still having an issue. Unfortunately don’t have a laptop to plug this in. Are there any other options?

What is the exact error message you’re receiving?

My iPad 2025/a16 is currently also stuck at the (translated from Dutch) step “Complete extra steps in Wallet”. Has been for about 45 min now. Not a great experience.

Restarted and now it has been like this for over 30 min… Get an iPad they said… it’s high quality they said.