In a move that's sure to be welcomed by owners of Apple devices in the U.K., Barclays has finally added support for Apple Pay, nine months after the mobile payment system was launched in the country. Barclaycard and Barclays customers can now use the service starting Monday.
Apple Pay was launched in the U.K. in June 2016 but Barclays was conspicuously missing from the list of partners that include First Direct, HSBC, NatWest, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, Ulster Bank, and several other banks.
The Cupertino giant has now said its payment service has been enabled for Barclaycard and Barclays customers, giving them the ability to make payments using their iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad at over 400,000 contactless locations in the U.K.
"We are passionate about helping customers access services and carry out their day to day transactions in the way that suits them. As part of this, we have developed a range of digital innovations that allow people to choose how, when and where they bank and make payments," said Ashok Vaswani, the CEO of Barclays U.K., in a statement. "Adding to the existing choice, from today both Barclays debit and Barclaycard credit card customers can use Apple Pay to make payments with their Apple device across the U.K."
"With Barclaycard and Barclays bringing Apple Pay to our customers, we can now offer the widest choice of ways to make and take payments in a way that's most convenient for them," said Amer Sajed, Interim CEO of Barclaycard.
Apple Pay works with iPhone SE, iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 4, iPad Pro and Apple Watch. Eligible devices have to run the most up-to-date iOS to access the service. To add the card to your device, open the Wallet app and tap the plus sign in the upper right-hand corner. Follow the instructions on the screen if you want to add a new card, and if the card you'd like to use is already in iTunes, add it by entering the card security code.
Apple Pay is ahead of its rivals at the moment. Google has announced that it will bring Android Pay to the U.K. in the next few months. The company said its payment platform will support MasterCard as well as Visa credit and debit cards from many banks but Barclays is not in the list. Samsung Pay is also scheduled to come to the country later this year.
