Level 1

21 points

Wallet & Apple Pay Preference Missing

I just purchased a new 2018 15 inch MacBook Pro and migrated my old info from a Time Machine Backup. All is well except the Wallet & Apple Pay Preference icon is missing in the System Preferences. This icon does show up when I switch users to Guest or create a new User. Guessing my Preferences plist from the TMB that I migrated is causing this Wallet & Apple Pay icon to be missing. I have reached out to Apple for help and they are looking into it. Anyone else have this issue?

Posted on Jul 21, 2018 2:06 PM

Top-ranking reply

JCandle

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Aug 25, 2018 8:52 AM

For ease of reading the problem can be identified by opening the Terminal app and pasting in the following command:

Code:

defaults read .GlobalPreferences PKSecureElementAvailableFlags

If Terminal responds with:

Code:

rather than the correct value of:

Code:

Then the fault is with this flag value and the following command should be pasted into Terminal:

Code:

defaults write .GlobalPreferences PKSecureElementAvailableFlags -int 3

You can check this value again by repeating:

Code:

defaults read .GlobalPreferences PKSecureElementAvailableFlags

The Wallet appeared in the System Preferences pane immediately after this command but it took me a restart to get it to accept a new card (a log out/in may have also worked).

Full credit to Einkoro, mjrit and a few others.

View in context

Similar questions

78 replies

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 30, 2018 3:01 PM in response to DAC30

Just got off the phone with Apple Support and they still have no fix from engineering. I had her screen share and then forwarded a screen shot of the path to the Preference Pane System Folder and the accompanying message. She will forward to engineering.

sleifer

Level 1

8 points

Jul 30, 2018 5:08 PM in response to DAC30

I also have this issue. Today I noticed what I think is a second manifestation of the issue. I was buying something online at a site that I believe supports Apple Pay. Safari just beach balled forever and had to be force quit. Using a different browser that does not support Apple Pay was the only way forward.

AndyG.

Level 1

4 points

Aug 2, 2018 5:06 AM in response to AndyG.

Bonus points if anyone is able to identify which user library files from the “New” user are the culprits missing when migrating from an older Mac. Then we could skip half these steps and just copy those files over to fix the problem. Unless the real issue is that there are old files that needed to be replaced with newer versions... (Both of these theories are addressed by following the steps above btw).

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Aug 2, 2018 5:20 AM in response to AndyG.

Andy,

Thanks for all of your insight. I'm wondering if it's not a missing file but a corrupted file or at least a file that was not properly updated during the transition. I'm still waiting to hear if anyone did the migration successfully as it pertains to Wallet & ApplePay Preference. Still nothing from Apple on my case file. I'll update if I hear anything.

frodo13

Level 1

4 points

Aug 7, 2018 1:15 PM in response to frodo13

Well - spoke too soon... Icon was back and initial screen loaded, but then got an error that I couldn't set up apple pay. I may try the solution above with the entire Library folder to see if that helps...

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Aug 8, 2018 9:10 AM in response to frodo13

My direct contact with Apple Support has stopped as they didn't come up with any solution to offer me. I will probably call one more time later in the week and see if I can upgrade this problem to another level but don't have any real hope of a positive response. I don't think they have had enough complaints to make the issue a priority although it seems that having Apple Pay as promised would be a top priority for Apple and the ecosystem that it is trying to promote. I am a high user of AP on my iOS devices and was looking forward to the OS experience.

I do think the issue is directly related to one of the plist files in the the system Library but don't have the expertise to diagnose the exact issue nor willing to play around with those files. Migration Assistant should be the way to go and is published as such. I would like to be able to migrate with MA to a new user account on my new MacBook Pro but don't think thats an option. If you know a way I would love to try that.

My suggestion for everyone is to call Apple Support to let them know you have the issue too. If you don't have the Wallet & Apple Pay preference in your Preferences on the the MacBook Pro, please let them know.

Thanks

YatBob

Level 1

9 points

Aug 12, 2018 9:32 AM in response to DAC30

I have been following this thread, waiting for my 2018 MBPro to arrive, if I understand everything I have read this issue occurs when migrating from time machine, but i do not see any mentions from anyone who migrated from Carbon Copy Clone or Super Duper or am I just missing that and wonder if it would make a difference.

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Aug 12, 2018 9:44 AM in response to YatBob

I would love to know that too but have not heard from anyone using those methods. I have used CCC in the past but used TimeMachine this time as it seems pretty seamless now. Unfortunately, we have this issue with the Wallet & ApplePay preference. I still think most people are not even aware of the issue since they don't look for something that is "missing" when everything else seems to work fine. You have to want to use ApplePay. And the initial setup allows for the ApplePay setup, just on a newly created user account. So, when following that by using Migration Assistant and bringing over your old user account, the problem shows up. Good luck. I keep thinking I'm the one missing something but haven't found it yet and Apple Support seems unable to help so far.

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Aug 12, 2018 4:26 PM in response to snog_1999

I started sending those system reports at engineerings request thru my Apple Support tech a couple of weeks ago. She did several screen sharing sessions with me and captured data and screen shots. They still have not come up with a fix. Hope your helps keep the process going. I have a call in to my to tech to upgrade the issue again.

YatBob

Level 1

9 points

Aug 12, 2018 4:43 PM in response to DAC30

I came upon this subject accidently and am now interested since I have a new machine coming in a few days, seems like it is a major issue, although it has not got any mention on any of the many Apple blogs, which I find surprising there has to be more than the few posting here with this issue or as someone else mention they have the issue just haven’t realized it yet

mjrit

Level 1

9 points

Aug 12, 2018 5:15 PM in response to DAC30

I've got a call scheduled too - at this point I'm mainly curious to find out what the problem is and to make sure they know more people have the issue, but also don't want to manually setup a new user - I've been migrating my account since my 2003 PowerBook so it would be a shame to have to stop now 😁

mjrit

Level 1

9 points

Aug 12, 2018 7:57 PM in response to Einkoro

Wow, well done! I've looked at that file at least 10 times and didn't noticed that diff :-)

Just tried it. The wallet preferences appeared and initially trying to add a card failed with an error after trying for about a minute. After the error I clicked the add card button again and it worked!

Thanks

Einkoro

Level 1

9 points

Aug 12, 2018 10:45 PM in response to DAC30

It’s prefixed with a dot, .GlobalPreferences.plist, so it’s hidden and you’ll need to use the terminal or set the finder to show them. I believe it’s defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES and then you’ll need to force quit and relaunch finder. Alternatively you could use another file manager or FTP client like transmit that can toggle showing dot files.

DAC30 Author

Level 1

21 points

Aug 13, 2018 5:30 AM in response to mjrit

Outstanding work! Thanks so much to Einkoro and mjrit for finding the issue with the plist file and explaining how to fix it. That saved all of us a lot of work. Apple should have found this quickly. I hope they move faster to fix the issue with an update as I think it is a pervasive issue. I have added two cards to my Wallet and am ready for ApplePay using my original user name. Thanks again!

I have a call coming from my Apple Support advisor today and will see if they are actively passing along this fix.

Aug 15, 2018 2:51 PM in response to DAC30

My rep just called. I told her that my issue is resolved, and that the solution is in this forum. She didn't recommend that users implement fixes posted in a public forum as it is risky. Blah Blah Blah.

Anyway, she said that engineering knows of the issue, that there are many people with the problem, and, to date, it remains unresolved.

Little does she know. This is an excellent example of users helping users.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Wallet & Apple Pay Preference Missing