Apple Pay has come a long way. In the earliest days, you had to go out of your way to find a store that supported it — which was an obstacle to my reporting, actually. Years later, cashiers were still occasionally surprised when I paid for something using my Apple Watch. Today it’s so commonplace that even Walmart has caved to pressure, finally enabling it in US stores.
You can find Apple Pay on pretty much every Apple device that makes sense, iPads included. But you might want to exercise a little more caution on your tablet, even if it’s still relatively secure.
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Apple
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256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB
What’s unsafe about using Apple Pay on an iPad?
Including an unforced error by Apple
Apple Pay itself is very safe. You’re never directly transmitting your debit or credit card info over the internet — instead you’re transmitting a token that stands in place of your card, only verified behind the scenes. On your iPad, these tokens are saved in a chip called the Secure Element. Apple also doesn’t have any way of monitoring your transaction history, unless of course you’re paying at an Apple Store.
Where things become a little dicier is the fact that the iPad doesn’t have a Wallet app, unlike the iPhone or Apple Watch. You have to manage everything via Settings -> Wallet & Apple Pay, which means it’s not as easy to switch default payment methods. If you’re prone to operating on autopilot, like me, you might end up charging the wrong card for some transactions. In fact, any cards you have set up on other devices have to be re-verified, and some options available to iPhone and Watch owners just aren’t present on an iPad, namely anything NFC-based like Apple Pay Transit. Not that you’d really want to pull out your iPad when you’re about to hop on the New York subway.
Your biggest concern should be the way iPads are normally used. Whereas phones and smartwatches are truly personal devices, people often share iPads with their partner or child — and Apple still refuses to enable user profiles as a general iPadOS feature. If you hand an iPad over to your eight-year-old, they can go on a spending spree without ever needing a physical card. All they need is your passcode, or to have code checks temporarily disabled after a recent purchase. Face ID and Touch ID don’t provide any protection. If they fail, passcode authentication is still available as a fallback.
Remember also that screen size creates privacy issues. While it’s unlikely someone will happen to be staring over your shoulder at the exact moment you’re using Apple Pay, you’re also making purchases on an 8-, 11-, or13-inch display. In a public space, it could be relatively easy for someone to glimpse what you’re buying. They might also catch some more critical details if you’re using Apple Pay on the web, as the data that’s visible on a webpage will vary from what’s censored by built-in Apple Pay mechanisms.
What sort of precautions should you take?
A few simple steps
Until Apple enables restrictable user profiles, avoid handing an iPad over to someone you don’t completely trust. I know this is particularly challenging for parents, since an iPad is an easy way of entertaining (or educating) a child, and buying a second one can be financially impractical. Yet it’s all too easy for kids to rack up bills when you’re not looking. They can be even more impulsive than we are, and may not understand how money works, much less your budget.
If you are going to share your tablet, or you’re worried about using the wrong card, you might want to avoid adding any cards to Apple Pay. That’s going to rub some of you the wrong way, as it’s not making full use of the Apple ecosystem — but for purchases on the web, Apple Pay just isn’t necessary. Skipping it can actually make things more secure. Browsers like Safari and Chrome will typically ask you to confirm your card’s CVC before allowing a transaction, and if you disable autofill, you’ll have to manually enter all your card details.
Note that you don’t need Apple Pay to buy things through the App Store. You can link other payment methods to your Apple account, and there may be web alternatives for some in-app transactions. You should use these alternatives whenever possible. Because Apple takes a cut from all App Store purchases, developers sometimes increase in-app prices to compensate. You can save a lot of money by taking a little longer to pay.
