Q: Does Apple Pay actually work without an internet connection?

Hi

Your Apple Pay equipped device does not need to have an internet connection at the time of purchase. For example, you can use Apple Pay on Apple Watch without having the paired iPhone with you (leaving the watch without access to Wi-Fi or cellular data).

The merchant will need a means of transmitting data to the payment network, but that is entirely on their side.

When you add a payment card to Apple Pay on a device, each combination of card and device (Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad) is given a unique Device Account Number. When you make a purchase, the merchant's terminal receives (via NFC technology - just like with a contactless credit card) your Device Account Number, a one-time security code (specific to that transaction) and some other data required to complete the transaction. Before approving it, your payment network or bank can check your information by reference to the security code, which tells them that the payment is unique and comes from your device.

The merchant doesn't see your payment card number, name, address or any other personally identifying information. Also, Apple doesn't know what you purchased, from where you bought it or how much it cost.

You're welcome!

The watch certainly does not need to be in contact with the iPhone at the time of purchase. You can leave your iPhone switched off and at home and still pay with your watch somewhere else.

You did not explain that you were having issues using Apple Pay with your watch. If you would like to describe the issue, I may be able to offer some suggestions.

JustSomeOldGuy wrote:

 

my watch displayed the message "Card Unavailable" when I tried to use it, even though an image of the card was clearly visible on the watch face.  It may be I was simply doing something wrong at the time.

That message suggests that your watch may not have been presented correctly to the terminal. After double-pressing the side button and seeing your card on the screen:

- The watch face should be facing and parallel with the terminal (you should not be able to see the watch face whilst paying), aligned centrally with the contactless logo on the terminal screen and closer than 10cm.

- It should be held in that position for up to a few seconds, until you hear the confirmation beep and haptic pulse.

My pleasure!

It is not always necessary to verify when adding a card. That step is at the bank's discretion (and involves verifying your identity, rather than verifying a card).

Glad to hear that you are up and running with Apple Pay!

HI Jonathan,

You were so helpful with JustSomeOldGuy's Apple Pay concern last fall that I am hoping you can help me also.

Recently my iPad Air and new iPad Pro started to act strangely. I started getting popup messages frequently on both devices saying that I needed to update either my Apple ID, iCloud information, or my gmail address and then tried to allow me to redirect to Settings to do this. I believe I allowed this once, but the correct information was already there. When it happened again (and again and again), I just ignored the messages.

Still, my iPad started doing other quirky things, like not recognizing a password upon login when I had just changed the password. I went through all the saved passwords under Safari in Settings to manually update all my current passwords from my iPad Air to my iPad Pro (I had thought this was automatically synced). I updated myself on all the security strategies recommended for iPad users, but pretty much all of the ones pertinent to my situation were already in place. The popup messages eventually stopped, but I'm still getting the "incorrect password" message fairly often. So I continued to scour my iPads to see what might be going on.

AND THIS IS WHERE APPLE PAY COMES IN. I wasn't even aware of this new feature on my iPad Pro and therefore had never entered any information into it directly within Settings. But when I opened it up, it showed the last four digits of my current credit card AND SOMEONE ELSE'S EMAIL ADDRESS, someone I've never heard of before. Of course, I wrote theor address down and immediately replaced it with mine, had my credit card changed, and talked with Apple Care, who put my iPad through some security measures. So far it looks like no real monetary damage was inflicted. But the whole thing just creeps me out, since I don't know if this person hacked into any of my other information.

I've searched and searched for anyone who can make sense of how someone else's email address ended up in my Apple Pay, while at the same time it looks like someone has been trying to get my key passwords out of me. You are the one person who seems to know quite a bit about Apple Pay. That's why I'm wondering if you, or someone you know, can make any sense of what I've described to you.

I apologize for the very long "question." I thought it best to give you all I can up front, rather than going back and forth to fill in the gaps. I am grateful for any help you can give me--about what may be going on here and/or any further steps I need to take.

JustSomeOldGuy wrote:

 

Your iPad Pro shouldn't have Apple Pay on it.  Mine doesn't.  The only devices which support Apple Pay are the iPhone6, 6+, 6S, 6S+, and the Apple Watch. ..

 

Perhaps it was some sort of malicious program masquerading as Apple Pay.

This is incorrect.

iPad Pro includes support for setting up and using Apple Pay to make purchases within apps, but not for making payments within stores:

"You can start using Apple Pay to make purchases as soon as you add a credit or debit card, including store-issued cards, to Wallet. Here's what you need:

..

• iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, or iPad mini 3 and later (Apple Pay within apps) .. "

More information:

Set up and use Apple Pay on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

dreamn.jane wrote:

 

Hi Jonathan,

 

 

.. when I opened it up, it showed the last four digits of my current credit card AND SOMEONE ELSE'S EMAIL ADDRESS, someone I've never heard of before.

Hi

If Apple Pay had not yet been set up on your iPad Pro, neither the card nor the email address were yet being used on it in conjunction with Apple Pay.

The card was likely shown because it was on file in your Apple ID / iTunes Store account. Where this is a supported card (for Apple Pay), it is suggested within Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay, ready for you to also add to Apple Pay (by confirming the card's security code).

The email address may have been shown due to a discrepancy in your Apple ID and/or Contacts information. If you did not go through similar steps when speaking with Apple Support, it may help to run through the following checks now:

• Via a web browser, sign in to Manage Your Apple ID: https://appleid.apple.com
  • In the Account section, under the heading Contactable At: check that only your own email addresses are listed. Remove any others by clicking on Edit.
• On your iPad, in the Contacts app:
  • Open your own contact card: check that it contains your Apple ID email address and that any other email addresses recorded there are only your own.
  • When viewing the list of all contacts, search for the email address that you found in Settings. If it exists within a contact card, either delete the card (if not required) or check that none of your own information is also recorded within that contact card.
• On your iPad, go to: Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars:
  • In the Accounts section: check that only your own email accounts are listed (including iCloud).
  • In the Contacts section: check that My Info is using your contact card.
• On your iPad, go to: Settings > General > Siri > My Info - check that your contact card is selected.
• On your iPad, go to: Settings > Messages > Send & Receive - check that only your own email addresses are listed.

In order to conveniently sync contacts and other data automatically between your devices, you may wish to enable iCloud settings on each iPad (and on any other Apple devices):

- On your iPad, go to: Settings > iCloud - for example, you may wish to turn on Contacts, Keychain, Safari, Calendar, etc.

If you have not already reset your Apple ID password, you may wish to consider doing so. You will need to sign in to all Apple services again afterwards.

- Change your Apple ID password - Apple Support

Otherwise, one reason why you may be receiving prompts to enter a password is if you have set up app-specific passwords (eg for iMessage and FaceTime). If so, sign in to these services using that password. To check whether this is the case:

• Whilst signed in to https://appleid.apple.com/ via a web browser: in the Security section, click on Edit > under App-specific Passwords, click on View History.
• More information: Using app-specific passwords - Apple Support