Apple Pay launches in the UK

The new contactless payment system works uses the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus’ inbuilt fingerprint scanner and near field communication (NFC) chips to make payments by pressing your finger to the home button and holding the handset near a card reader, as you would a contactless debit card. The Passbook app will automatically open, and your phone will vibrate and beep to let you know its been received.

When paying with an Apple Watch, double tapping the side button triggers your stored cards. Holding the Watch up to the contactless reader makes the payment, and, like on iPhone, it will vibrate and beep to confirm its gone through.

The first wave of banks to support the payment system in the UK include NatWest, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank and MBNA. First Direct and HSBC will join later in July while Apple promises a second wave in the autumn, including Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank and TSB Bank. A notable absentee is Barclays, which is apparently still working some things out, likely around Apple’s cut of each transaction.

A variety of banks, credit card companies and retailers have lined up to support Apple Pay. Most retailers that already accept contactless payments via credit and debit cards will support the new pay system.

Notable companies and services include Waitrose, Co-op, Lidl, Spar, Boots, Marks and Spencer, Post Office, BP, Costa Coffee, Starbucks, LePain Quotidien, Wagamama, Nandos, KFC, Pret A Manger, Subway, McDonald’s, the Trainline, Transport for London and Liberty.

For online payments the list includes Addison Lee, Argos, British Airways, Domino’s, easyJet, Hailo, hungryhouse, Just Eat, lastminute.com, Miss Selfridge, Ocado, Topshop and Zara.

When used to pay online, Apple Pay will operate similar to the way PayPal works on Samsung smartphones, using a fingerprint to authenticate payments without having to enter credit card details on supporting websites.