Apple Pay & Privacy

Apple Pay is designed to protect your information and enable you to choose what you share.

• When you add a card to Apple Pay, 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 Apple Pay 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.
• Apple Pay data that can no longer be tied to you may be retained for a limited period of time to generally improve Apple Pay and other Apple products and services.

Apple Pay allows you to make secure purchases in stores, in apps, and on the web, using your debit, credit, and prepaid cards.

Adding Cards to Apple Pay

When you are adding a payment card like store, credit, debit, and prepaid cards to Apple Pay, 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 Apple Pay. Your device may also evaluate device use patterns (for example, percent 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 Apple Pay, in order to determine the eligibility of your card, to set up your card with Apple Pay, and to prevent fraud, including:

• Your credit, debit, or prepaid card number

• The name and billing address associated with your Apple ID, iTunes, or App Store account

• General information about your Apple ID, iTunes, and App Store account activity (for example, whether you have a long history of transactions within iTunes)

• Information about your device and, if using Apple Watch, the paired iOS device (for example, a device identifier, phone number, and the name and model of your 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 Apple Pay

When you add a card to Apple Pay 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 Apple Pay, 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. Apple Pay does not store the original credit, debit, or prepaid card number.

Paying with Apple Pay

Information Shared When You Make a Payment

When you begin a payment within an app, on the web, or within Business Chat using Apple Pay, 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-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 Apple Pay.

When you make a payment using a QR code pass in Wallet, your device will present a unique code and share that code with the pass provider to prevent fraud. If the device from which payment is made has the pass provider’s app installed, the pass provider may collect and process additional information at the time of payment to prevent fraud, consistent with the app’s privacy policy. The pass provider may also directly contact you for more information to verify the transaction, if needed.

Apps and Websites Can Check if You Have Set up Apple Pay

When using an app or a website that uses Apple Pay in iOS, watchOS, or macOS, the app or website can check if you have Apple Pay 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 Apple Pay set up on an iPhone or Apple Watch using the same iCloud account. You can disable websites you visit from checking if Apple Pay is enabled by changing your settings. On iOS, go to Settings > Safari > Check for Apple Pay. On Mac, go to Safari > Preferences > Privacy and deselect “Allow websites to check for Apple Pay and Apple Card.”

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 re-encrypted 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.

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 Touch ID, Face ID, or a passcode). You can manage Express Transit on your iOS device by going to Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay or in Apple Watch app by tapping Wallet & Apple Pay, then tapping Express Transit Card and selecting a payment card.

Rewards and Gift Cards

Apple Pay 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, and tapping to turn off Wallet.

When you use Apple Pay 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 Apple Pay, it may trigger a notification asking if you would like to add your rewards card to Apple Pay 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 Apple ID, iTunes, or App Store account

• Information about your device and, if using Apple Watch, 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 Touch ID, Face ID, or a passcode). You can manage Express Mode on your iPhone in Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay or in Apple Watch app by tapping Wallet & Apple Pay.

Other Information

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 Apple Pay improve the accuracy of business names in the Wallet card transaction history and may be retained in aggregate to improve Apple Maps, Apple Pay, and Wallet. You can disable this location-based functionality of Apple Pay at any time on your iOS device by going to Settings

Privacy > Location Services > System Services and tapping to turn off Apple Pay Merchant Identification. On Mac, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy, click Location Services, click the lock to make changes and enter your password, then deselect Wallet.

To help you manage your payment methods on the Apple ecosystem, Apple may check whether any Apple Pay payment methods are eligible to be added as a payment method on file to your Apple ID and display those payment methods in Settings > [your name] > Payment & Shipping > Add Payment Method > Found in Wallet. When you conduct a transaction with your Apple ID, Apple may also check whether any Apple ID payment methods on file are eligible for Apple Pay. If so, to help safeguard your payment information, Apple may enable Apple Pay for that payment method. You can modify your Apple ID payment methods at any time by going to Settings > [your name] > Payment & Shipping.

Apple Pay data that has been disassociated from you may be retained for a limited period of time to generally improve Apple Pay and other Apple products and services.

The terms of any cardholder, user, merchant agreement, or other terms and conditions applicable to the use of the features of Apple Pay will continue to govern the use of your cards and their use in connection with Apple Pay, and such terms may have additional privacy policies.

At all times, information collected by Apple will be treated in accordance with Apple’s Privacy Policy, which can be found at www.apple.com/privacy

Information about products not manufactured by Apple, or independent websites not controlled or tested by Apple, is provided without recommendation or endorsement. Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the selection, performance, or use of third-party websites or products. Apple makes no representations regarding third-party website accuracy or reliability. Contact the vendor for additional information.

Published Date: December 13, 2020

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