Q: Apple Pay Not Working "Hold Near Reader to Pay"

Hi David ..

"I gently placed my finger on the fingerPrint Reader and it reads my fingerprint"

To pay with Apple Pay using your default card, hold your iPhone within an inch of the contactless reader with your finger held on Touch ID without pressing it. I've noticed Touch ID is rather sensitive.

Also, make sure the display is free of finger prints.

Set up and use Apple Pay

If that happens again, reset your iPhone:

Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button together for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.

Then try Apple Pay again.

No data is lost due to a reset.

I'm having the same problem. Keeps telling me hold the phone closer, then eventually it beeps and Chase would decline my transaction. Tried at subway restaurant and MTA vending machine.

I has same problem at Walgreen...then I try couple times to place my fingerprint on it and then it go through. Then next two days I came back at Walgreen and it didn't work anymore, after I placed the phone/fingerprint on it has "check mark" but it didn't go through transaction and I try again and it did have "check mark" on my phone but still didn't go through...even Store Manager looks up the system and didn't show any transaction in their system. I give up and used my card. On my passbook it tell me the Last Transaction and location but didn't show amount.

By the way...I have Wells Fargo Credit Card and iPhone 6 Plus.

SOLVED

I solved the issue by doing a full Backup and Restore.  After that it worked the very first time I used it.  I think the issue was related to OTA updates vs fresh install of 8.1. 

So did you do your restore from the last backup you did moments before? I have a 6 plus and it accepts my payment and then the cashier tells me it was declined, then I just use that exact same card and it works just fine. Was this the same problem you were having?

Restoring won't help, I tried it. It's a probelm with Visa or chase. All 3 of my chase Visa cards get declines while my capitalone MasterCard works fine.

davidgrossman wrote:

 

SOLVED

I solved the issue by doing a full Backup and Restore.  After that it worked the very first time I used it.  I think the issue was related to OTA updates vs fresh install of 8.1.

I am trying that solution.

My wife bought the iPhone 6 and I bought the 6+. Hers works perfectly while mine doesn't respond at all or has the "Hold Near Reader to Pay" error. Thus it is not a credit card problem for us.

I called Apple support and while chatting was told to "Reset All Settings" on the phone and to try it. It didn't work. Since I couldn't test it while chatting with support they instructed be to do a complete restore if the first step didn't work. Support said it is more likely to be software problem.

I did the complete restore yesterday. I have yet to test the Apple Pay and hope it works. I will do that this afternoon.

Originally, I had little hope in that solution working. Thus, I already set a Genius Bar appointment for Thursday to test the hardware. The Apple Store is one hour away.

Your post gives me hope, so I will try it today.

Also, I should note that when I activated my phone November 5 it didn't have 8.1. I had a few hiccups updating. So doing a complete restore gives me hope.

Thanks.

I tried my phone at two locations and it didn't work. In my case it must be a hardware problem.

Failed solutions

1. Original set-up

2. "Reset All Settings"

3. Complete restore.

I just return from the Apple Store. It was bad hardware. They swapped the phone and ApplePay works perfectly.

I have searched the web and fortunately there are few of us with this problem.

Problem Solved!

I had a similar issue. I had gotten this "Hold Near Reader to Pay" message once and other times it didn't even recognize the device and nothing at all happened. I took it to the apple store and they tested it with the apple pay demo there and nothing so they replaced the device. Now it is working flawlessly.

I went back to Walgreen and still have "Hold near reader to pay" then I take the phone out and place the phone back and it works.

My phone says the same thing when I attempt to use Apple Pay in stores.  Tried it at Walgreens and Whole Foods and it failed both times.  I tried it on the Groupon app today and it worked great.  I think there much be an issue with the NFC in my phone.  Going to Apple Store tomorrow to see what they think

Today I went to Whole Foods try out and it works perfectly