Apple Pay rumoured to be usable online by Christmas 2016

The change would make mobile online shopping much easier

Doug Bolton
Thursday 24 March 2016 19:39 GMT
Comments
A woman uses Apple Pay at a Post Office
A woman uses Apple Pay at a Post Office (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Apple Pay is apparently coming to the mobile web.

As reported by Recode, users of the mobile-based payment system will soon be able to use it to buy goods online, using their fingerprint as authentication.

This would make it far easier to shop on a mobile browser or in an app, as it would mean you wouldn't have to dig out a card and enter the number, expiry date and security code to make a purchase.

Most new smartphones released today are fitted with fingerprint scanners, so bringing Apple Pay online was always going to be an obvious choice for the company, especially since they make money with every transaction.

There's no word yet on when it will actually be released, but Recode said it will come out in time for this year's Christmas period, citing "multiple sources".

It'll apparently make its debut on the mobile web, but Apple is reportedly considering making it usable on desktops and laptops too.

Apple Pay is already a popular payment method in physical shops - with a simple fingerprint scan, users can tap their phone on a contactless card reader and pay for their goods.

Bringing the service online would bring Apple into competition with PayPal, who already have a similar online payment system called One Touch. However, since so many people have Apple Pay already, they may be given a run for their money.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in