Citibank and Wells Fargo started sending emails to their customers on Friday about the introduction of Apple Pay as an integrated feature in iPhone 6.
More than 200,000 stores will start offering easy payments through Apple Pay. Existing credit and debit card accounts will be used for this new payment feature and customers do not need to apply for or create a new account. The bank also clarified that customers who will be using Apple Pay will still get perks and discounts from Citi Card. However, Apple Pay will be limited to Citi-branded accounts issued in the United States and Hawaii, according to Citibank.
Early this month, Apple announced that it is partnering with top U.S. banks such as Citibank, Bank of America, Capital One, American Express, Wells Fargo, and Chase. Financial institutions Visa, Mastercard, and American Express were also reported to use Apple Pay as one of their services.
Stores that will accept Apple Pay include Disney Parks, Whole Food, Toys R Us, Walgreen's, Staples, Macy's McDonald, Nike, and Petco. Apps such as Tickets.com, Uber, Target, Starbucks, Open Table, Panera Bread and Groupon will also allow their customers to use the Apple payment service, according to AFP.
Apple Insider explained that the transactions with iPhone 6 will allow the customer to use a "token" for every purchase. Citibank described this token as a substitute account number that will protect the user's real account number. A single token has an expiry time, assuring the card holder that his account is not being used by other people or being skimmed. This will also protect the card numbers and the owner's identity in case of a hack into the store's database.
If the phone is stolen, the thief won't be able to use Apple Pay because it needs the owner's Touch ID fingerprint before it can be activated. Once the phone was put into its Lost Mode, it will block any purchases via Apple Pay.
