How to Set Up Apple Pay
(Associated Press)
Now that iOS 8.1 is out, you iPhone users can go wild using Apple Pay. But that doesn’t mean you can start waving your phone around on your next Whole Foods trip, expecting it to just work. You have to set it up first, silly! Here’s how.
1. Make sure your phone is running iOS 8.1.
2. Open the Passbook app. In case it’s been collecting cobwebs in some obscure folder on your phone, it looks like this:
3. Pull down on the screen until you see a + sign in the upper-right corner. Tap it.
4. At the top of the screen, tap Set Up Apple Pay.
5. You’ll then be given the option to either transfer the current card you have on file in iTunes to the Apple Pay system or to add a new card.
6. If you’re adding a new card, you’re brought to this screen. Rather than entering all your card’s information manually, you can just tap the camera icon to the right of the words Card Number.
7. Your camera view pops up. Grab your actual plastic credit card; hold the phone so that the frame fits the card’s image.
8. Almost immediately, the app recognizes your name, card number, and expiration date. (It doesn’t store the three- or four-digit security code; that’s a security measure.) The phone vibrates and displays what it picks up in white text.
9. You return to the new card screen, where the scanned information is already filled in. Check it, especially your expiration date; the camera scanner got it wrong in some of our tests. Once you’ve completed that section, tap Next in the upper-right corner.
10. Agree to the terms and conditions. You might get a brief explanation or a very long one, depending on which bank issues your credit card.
11. Finally, you return to the original Passbook homescreen, this time with an image of your registered card. Below the card it says, “Your card is being activated,” though this takes only a few moments.
12. From here, you can add yet another card, if you like, by starting over from step 3!
13. To specify your default Apple Pay card, go to Settings → Passbook & Apple Pay. (The default card lets you pay the quickest. Without even waking up your iPhone, you just hold it near the store’s card reader with your finger on the home button. If you want to pay using one of your secondary cards, then wake the phone up first.)
14. From there you can also see your cards’ information and adjust your billing and shipping addresses. For some reason, Apple had a bunch of my old addresses stored in there, so it’s worth checking.
That’s it! Now go out and use your phone’s new superpower. But please don’t start with McDonald’s. It’s had enough customers harassing it about Apple Pay for the day.
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