- When you add a card to ApplePay, card-related information, location, and information about device settings and use patterns may be sent to Apple to determine eligibility.
- Some of the above information, account-related information, and paired-device details may be shared with your card issuer or bank to determine eligibility and for anti-fraud purposes.
- When you use ApplePay in apps and on the web, information necessary to process the payment is shared with the app or website. Your actual card number isn’t shared with the merchant.
- ApplePay data that can no longer be tied to you may be used by Apple to improve ApplePay and other Apple products and services.
ApplePay allows you to make secure purchases in stores, in apps, and on the web, using your debit, credit, and prepaid cards.
Adding Cards to ApplePay
When you are adding a payment card like store, credit, debit, and prepaid cards to ApplePay, information you provide about your card, and whether certain device settings are enabled may be sent to Apple in order to determine your eligibility to enable ApplePay. Your device may also evaluate device use patterns (for example, percent of time device is in motion, approximate number of calls per week) to help identify fraud. The information evaluated by your device is not shared with Apple in a way that can be linked to you.
Information may also be provided by Apple to your card issuer, payment network, or any providers authorized by your card issuer to enable ApplePay, in order to determine the eligibility of your card, to set up your card with ApplePay, and to prevent fraud, including:
- Your credit, debit, or prepaid card number
- The name and billing address associated with your AppleID, iTunes, or AppStore account
- General information about your AppleID, iTunes, and AppStore account activity (for example, whether you have a long history of transactions within iTunes)
- Information about your device and, if using AppleWatch, the paired iOS device (for example, a device identifier, phone number, and the name and model, for both your AppleWatch and paired iOS device)
- Location at the time you add your card (if you have Location Services enabled)
- Account or device history of adding payment cards
- Aggregated stats relating to the information from payment cards you’ve added or attempted to add to ApplePay
When you add a card to ApplePay using a third-party app such as a banking app, the app sends an account or card identifier to your device. This information is used by Apple and your card issuer to determine the eligibility of your card, set up your card with ApplePay, and to prevent fraud. To help you set up cards that you have, or have recently had, on other devices, Apple stores a card reference with your iCloud account that can be used with the card issuer or payment network to re-add the card after entering the security code. ApplePay does not store the original credit, debit, or prepaid card number.
Paying with ApplePay
Information Shared When You Make a Payment
When you begin a payment within an app, on the web, or within Apple Messages for Business using ApplePay, to enable tax and shipping cost calculation your zip code, postal code, or other equivalent information is provided to the app, website, or merchant. After you authorize the payment, other information requested by the merchant, such as a device- or merchant-specific account number, your shipping address, or email address, is also provided. The card number from your credit, debit, or prepaid card is not provided when you use ApplePay.
To help ensure that any recurring or other merchant-initiated charges like subscriptions are authorized by you, when you choose to provide eligible ApplePay payment methods to participating merchants for recurring or merchant-initiated charges, your issuer and/or payment network will approve and generate a merchant-specific account number to be used for such charges. Only that merchant-specific account number can be used by a participating merchant to authorize transactions without you taking a specific action. Apple will know which merchants are associated with your merchant-specific account numbers, but not what you purchased or how much you paid for it. You can manage your merchant-specific account numbers in Wallet by tapping the card and tapping the More button to view card details.
For cards with certain enhanced fraud prevention, when you attempt an online or in-app transaction, your device will evaluate information about your AppleID, device, and location if you have enabled Location Services for Wallet, in order to develop on-device fraud prevention assessments. The output of the on-device fraud prevention assessments, but not the underlying data, will be sent to Apple and combined with information Apple knows about your device and account to develop ApplePay transaction fraud prevention assessments. These transaction fraud prevention assessments may be shared with your payment network, together with a shipping address identifier and IP address if available, in order to prevent fraud at the time of transaction. The shipping address identifier differs per payment network and may be used to confirm whether shipping addresses for different transactions using a particular card on your device are the same in a way that does not reveal the underlying address. You can check whether a card has this enhanced fraud prevention at any time by going to the back of your payment credential in Wallet. To prevent the sharing of fraud prevention assessments with your payment network, you can select another card.
Apps and Websites Can Check Whether You Have Set Up ApplePay
When using an app or a website that uses ApplePay in iOS, watchOS, or macOS, the app or website can check if you have ApplePay enabled on that device. When visiting a website in Safari on an iOS device, or Mac to which a card cannot be added, the website can check if you have ApplePay set up on an iPhone or AppleWatch using the same iCloud account. You can disable websites you visit from checking if ApplePay is enabled by changing your settings. On iOS, go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Check for ApplePay. On visionOS, go to Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced > Check for ApplePay. On Mac, go to Safari > Settings > Advanced and deselect “Allow websites to check for ApplePay and AppleCard”.
Safeguarding Your Payment Methods
Safeguarding Safari Payment Methods
To help safeguard your payment methods on the Apple ecosystem and take advantage of the benefits of ApplePay privacy and security, your supported ApplePay payment methods from Wallet will also be available in Safari Autofill. When shopping online with Safari Autofill, for websites, you can set up a virtual card number to hide your physical card number, if supported by your participating card network and issuer. To enable this functionality, Apple will send limited information about your payment method to your network, which will generate a virtual card number for your use when shopping online with Safari Autofill. To manage your ApplePay card numbers, including virtual card numbers, go to the back of your pass in Wallet and tap to see Card Information. You may also help to safeguard payment methods already in Safari Autofill by paying with ApplePay or a virtual card number rather than your physical card number. To manage on iOS, go to Settings > Wallet & ApplePay and tap Use ApplePay When Available. On visionOS, go to Settings > Apps > Safari > Wallet & ApplePay and tap Use ApplePay When Available. When enabled, limited information about your saved card in Safari Autofill necessary to verify eligibility for ApplePay will be sent to your payment network for verification. If your payment network indicates the card is eligible, Apple will add the payment method to Wallet and your network will generate an ApplePay card number for enhanced online shopping protection.
Safeguarding AppleID Payment Methods
To help you manage your payment methods on the Apple ecosystem, Apple may check whether any ApplePay payment methods are eligible to be added as a payment method on file to your AppleID and display those payment methods in Settings > [your name] > Payment & Shipping > Add Payment Method > Payment Method. When you conduct a transaction with your AppleID, Apple may also check whether any AppleID payment methods on file are eligible for ApplePay. If so, to help safeguard your payment information, Apple may enable ApplePay for that payment method. You can modify your AppleID payment methods at any time by going to Settings > [your name] > Payment & Shipping.
Apple Transmits, but Does Not Store Your Payment Information
In order to securely transmit your payment information within apps, websites, and Business Chat, it is sent to Apple in encrypted form, where it is briefly decrypted and reencrypted with a merchant-specific key, so that only the merchant, the developer, or their payment processor can decrypt your payment information. When you make a payment on a Mac to which a card cannot be added, the Mac and the authorizing device communicate over an encrypted channel via Apple servers. Apple does not retain any of this information in a form that personally identifies you.
ApplePay Order Tracking
To provide you with order tracking, upon making an ApplePay purchase, a participating merchant sends your device-limited order information for your device to use to track your order. And, Apple provides the merchant with a merchant-specific device identifier and a push token that the merchant can use to provide the device with order updates. Apple facilitates merchant updates, but does not store order information, nor track how many, how often, or which merchants send order updates. Order tracking information is stored locally on your devices and is kept up-to-date across devices by syncing an encrypted copy, which cannot be accessed by Apple. You can manage your ApplePay orders at any time by tapping to view your Orders, tapping on a specific order, and tapping Manage Order. You can also manage notifications about Orders by going to Orders, tapping the More button, then tapping Mute Notifications.
When you sign out of your account, your device may still retain limited information about orders for which the device is getting updates. This information will not be visible to device users, will be retained for a short time, and used by your device only to help stop updates from being sent to the device after sign-out to prevent unauthorized access to your order information.
Sharing Account Activity with Third-Party Apps
You can share your AppleCard, Savings, and AppleCash account details and transaction history with participating personal financial management apps you trust from the AppStore. Apps must request the ability to read your AppleCard, Savings, or AppleCash account activity from ApplePay in Wallet. You have control over the data that you share with these apps and can change what you share at any time. Account activity that you choose to share with a third-party app will be handled in accordance with that app’s privacy policy. Apple does not see or store your account details or transaction history when you share your account activity.
Transit Cards
By adding a transit card to Wallet, information about the transit card will be associated with your iCloud account. So long as your transit card has a positive balance, the card will remain associated with your iCloud account to help ensure you can recover the balance. If you add more than one transit card to Wallet, Apple or its partners may be able to link personal and account information associated between cards, for example personalized travel cards can be linked to non-personalized travel cards. In Japan, aggregate, non-personally identifiable, information about setting up transit cards in Wallet may be shared with mobile device carriers on a periodic basis.
When you use a transit card, information like recently visited stations, transaction history, and additional tickets may be accessed by a contactless card reader. This information can be accessed by any nearby contactless card reader, if the card is set as your Express Transit Card (a setting that allows you to complete transactions without TouchID, FaceID, or a passcode). You can manage Express Transit on your iOS device by going to Settings > Wallet & ApplePay or in the AppleWatch app by tapping Wallet & ApplePay, then tapping Express Transit Card and selecting a payment card.
Rewards and Gift Cards
ApplePay also allows you to use eligible rewards and gift cards that are stored in Wallet to make contactless rewards and gift card transactions in select stores. If you add a rewards or gift card to Wallet, information about your account or card (including an identifier) will be stored on your device and synced via iCloud. You can disable iCloud syncing by going to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Apps Using iCloud > Show All, and tapping to turn off Wallet.
After redeeming an Apple Gift Card or adding value to your AppleID balance, your Apple account card will be added to Wallet so that you can easily view your latest transactions and use your Apple account balance at Apple Stores.
When you use ApplePay in stores, the payment terminal may request the rewards or gift card identifier from its associated rewards or gift card on your device as part of the transaction. You can disable this functionality by selecting the card in Wallet and disabling Automatic Selection in the card details. In select stores, if the payment terminal does not receive a rewards card identifier from your device, when you pay using ApplePay, it may trigger a notification asking if you would like to add your rewards card to ApplePay or sign up for the merchant’s rewards program if you are not a member. In the case of rewards sign-up, the merchant may request that you provide information to them such as your name, postal code, email address, and phone number. While Apple will receive notice when you personalize a merchant’s rewards card, the information you share will be sent directly from your device to the merchant and treated in accordance with the merchant’s privacy policy.
Student ID Cards
If you choose to add a supported student ID card to Wallet, information about your student ID card and whether certain device settings are enabled may be provided to Apple. Information may also be provided by Apple to your school and providers authorized by your school to enable your ID card, determine eligibility, to set up your card, and to prevent fraud, including:
- Your student ID card number
- The name and billing address associated with your AppleID, iTunes, or AppStore account
- Information about your device and, if using AppleWatch, the paired iOS device (for example, device identifier and model of your device)
Apple Receives and Stores Your Student ID Photo and Stores It with Your iCloud Account
When you use a student ID card, contactless card readers can access your ID card number if the card is set to operate in Express Mode (a setting that allows you to complete transactions without TouchID, FaceID, or a passcode). You can manage Express Mode on your iPhone in Settings > Wallet & ApplePay or in the AppleWatch app by tapping Wallet & ApplePay.
Other Information
To determine eligibility for Wallet and ApplePay features, when you tap a card in Wallet, Apple may check feature eligibility by looking at the country in which the card was issued and whether the issuer participates in the feature.
If you have Location Services turned on, the location of your device at the time you use it to make purchases in stores may be sent anonymously to Apple and will be used to help ApplePay improve the accuracy of business names in the Wallet card transaction history and may be retained in aggregate to improve Apple Maps, ApplePay, and Wallet. You can disable this location-based functionality of ApplePay at any time on your iOS device by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services and tapping to turn off ApplePay Merchant Identification. On Mac, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Privacy > Location Services, then click to turn off Wallet.
To help improve ApplePay, Apple collects information about your use of ApplePay and stores that information in a way that does not identify you personally. This information includes the time it takes you to successfully add a card or complete a transaction using ApplePay. Apple may also use this information to improve other Apple products and services, for marketing, and for fraud and security purposes.
The terms of any cardholder, user, merchant agreement, or other terms and conditions applicable to the use of the features of ApplePay will continue to govern the use of your cards and their use in connection with ApplePay, and such terms may have additional privacy policies. In the event that Apple suspects fraud in connection with use of ApplePay, information about the potentially fraudulent Apple account and transactions may be shared with your card issuer or payment network provider to prevent fraud.
Apple retains personal data only for so long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including as described in this notice and in accordance with Apple’s Privacy Policy, or as required by law. When assessing retention periods, we first carefully examine whether it is necessary to retain the personal data collected and, if retention is required, work to retain the personal data for the shortest period permissible under law.
At all times, information collected by Apple will be treated in accordance with Apple’s PrivacyPolicy, which can be found at www.apple.com/privacy
Published Date: March 5, 2024
