Where You Can Use Apple Pay – The Major Chains and Stores

Evan Gower May 16, 2019

More and more people are hovering their iPhones over terminals to pay for all kinds of things. Apple Pay is getting more popular by the day, and the number of places where you can use it seems to go up by the day, as evidenced by the periodic update emails from Apple.

Where You Can Use Apple Pay - The Major Chains and Stores

Apple Pay has grown to become one of the most widely used NFC contactless payment methods in the US, and Canada and the UK are not far behind. Stay tuned if you happen to live in other countries as you’re not going to be left behind for long (just a guess – don’t hold us to it).

Long story short, Apple Pay makes it very easy to buy stuff in both online and brick-and-mortar stores. So where can you use it? Let’s take a look at some of the most popular places that are available at the time of this writing.

Stores

There are hundreds of stores in the US alone that accept Apple Pay. Apple is pushing it to the POS system of as many retailers as possible, as mentioned above. Some of the major stores that currently accept Apple Pay include but are not limited to:

7-Eleven (excluding pumps)
American Eagle Outfitters
Apple Store
Babies R Us
Barneys New York
Baskin Robbins
BI-LO
Carr’s
Casey’s General Store
Coca-Cola Vending Machines
Colorado Rockies
Dan’s Fresh Market
Disney Store
Dunkin’ Donuts
El Pollo Loco
Express
Forever 21
Fuddruckers
GameStop
GAP
Golden State Warriors
Haggen
Jack in the Box
Johnny Rockets
KFC
Macy’s
Martin’s
McDonald’s
Nike
Office Depot
Orlando Magic
Panera Bread
Pep Boys
Petco
Pizza Hut
QuikTrip
RadioShack
Raley’s Supermarkets
Sephora
Starbucks
Star Market
Supervalu
Taco Bell
Target
Trader Joe’s
Whole Foods Market

As mentioned, the list is much longer. Chances are that you’ll be able to use Apple Pay in many stores near you if you live in a metropolitan area. Case in point, 65% of all US-based retailers accept Apple Pay.

Online Stores and Apps

You’ll be happy to know that many major apps and online stores accept Apple Pay. Even Apple couldn’t keep track of all of them, so here are some of the bigger names for your perusal:

20Stamps
Abercrombie & Fitch
Airbnb
Apple Store
Barneys New York
Best Buy
Chick-fil-A
Chipotle
ClassPass
Cover
Etsy
Eventbrite
Fancy
Fandango
Gilt
Glasses by Warby Parker
Greenlight
Groupon
Highball
Hotwire
JackThreads
Jukely
Kickstarter
lululemon
Lyft
Macy’s
MBTA mTicket
NFL
Nike SNKRS
Nordstrom Rack
Panera Bread
Pinterest
Postmates
RA Guide
co
Shop Spring
Soothe
Starbucks
Taxfyle
Ticketmaster
Under Armour
United Airlines
Wish
XFINITY My Account
Yelp
ZARA

Finding Stores That Accept Apple Pay Near You

Thankfully, you don’t have to look through the whole list of stores that support Apple Pay. Your iOS device makes it quite easy for you to find places that accept Apple Pay around you. Here’s what you have to do:

Open the Maps app on your iOS device.
Search for the store that you’re looking to shop at (you’ll want to use the next step to see if it accepts Apple Pay).
Tap on the store’s location to see more details.
Between working hours and reviews, you’ll see a “Useful to Know” section. Look for either the Apple Pay logo or the “Accepts Apple Pay” mark.

If not, the store probably doesn’t accept Apple Pay, or at least not yet – Apple updates the maps with the latest information regularly, so it’s a reliable way to find out whether you can use Apple Pay at a certain location.

A Contactless Future

Apple is really serious about their transaction service. If you follow the stock market at all, you might have known that the sales of iPhones have slowed. So this is one of Apple’s future growth drivers.

In fact, Apple is supposed to release its own credit card, which we can expect in the summer of 2019. In addition to stores and restaurants, Apple is hard at work at bringing Apple Pay into colleges, non-profits, and other institutions. You’ll soon be able to donate money literally hand over fist (assuming your phone is in your fist).

If you live outside the US, check and see whether your bank accepts Apple Pay. Apple is partnering up with many major banks, particularly those that do business in the US.

Do you use Apple Pay or do you not care for it? We’d love to hear your experience or opinion in the comments below.