Tap to pay is accepted virtually everywhere, from big box retailers like Best Buy and Target to your local mom-and-pop fruit stand at the farmer’s market. However, even though this is a convenient and trusted option, there has been one stickler which has staunchly refused to join the digital wallet revolution: Walmart.

The retail giant launched its own form of digital payment called Walmart Pay in 2016 and, suffice to say, the tracking-focused technology, which forced shoppers to scan Walmart Pay QR codes that connected to a payment card, which then had to be stored in Walmart’s own app, did not take off. However, it looks like Walmart has finally joined the 21st century and will begin offering digital payments through Apple Walletand Google Pay in just a few days.

When will tap to pay be available at my local Walmart?

The rollout starts next week

Starting next week, shoppers can tap to pay using either Apple Wallet or Google Pay at select Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations in the US. Grocery and retail locations that don’t get the upgrade immediately will have it before the end of 2026. In addition, digital wallet support will be added to all Walmart fuel stations by mid-2027.

If you are one of the tens of people who use Walmart Pay, that service will still be available for checkout, as well as old-school card and cash options.

Why did it take so long for Walmart to get on board with digital payments?

It’s all about your data

Though Walmart Pay was inconvenient to use, Walmart wanted to push this technology to users as a way to capture more of their spending habit data. By integrating everything into the Walmart app, including purchase times, items purchased, payment methods, and frequency of purchases, Walmart could build predictive models around specific users and use them to strategically market specific items to targeted users. With tap to pay, that data collection simply isn’t possible.

Even if you don’t use digital wallets, this seems like a big win for consumers who shop at Walmart