In 2016, a contactless payment system from the well-known Apple company called Apple Pay was launched on the territory of the Russian Federation. This system has given rise to many similar services, which for the past 3 years have been trying to impose sensible competition on the market leader in smartphones and electronic gadgets. Apple Pay was implemented in the standard Wallet application and received support on all smartphones equipped with an NFC chip, that is, for iPhone models starting from version 6. After three years, practically all large financial institutions (card issuers), as well as more or less large retail outlets and online stores, started working with the service. But until now, many users have questions about whether the system is safe and how to use it correctly. And it is about the answers to these questions and will be discussed in this article.

How does Apple Pay.

Is it safe

The key question that determines the choice - whether for the sake of convenience to neglect their safety. In the early stages of testing and mass use, many users were extremely wary of contactless payment for purchases using their smartphones. Someone was afraid that an attacker who hacked the device could get these cards, someone was afraid that they would lose the gadget, and with it the attached bank cards. There were many fears, but in general they were not related to the system itself. The main thing that you just need to understand is that Apple Pay is equipped with all the most advanced security and encryption tools that do not allow the slightest compromise of personalized data. For example, here are three key points that confirm the falsity of many concerns:

1. No information about the bank card is stored in the clear (including on the smartphone). All data is encrypted.
2. Payment is made with the confirmation of authority by means of a fingerprint (Touch ID) or your own face (Face ID), for some operations, you must additionally enter a PIN code.
3. In case of loss of the smartphone, access to the payment system will be unavailable, since all the functionality is tied to fingerprint scanning, and you can block Apple Pay remotely.

The conclusion suggests itself. The contactless payment technology considered in this article is as safe (and in some cases even more) safe as regular purchases using a bank card. But this does not negate the fact that the user himself must in every way contribute to the protection tools and avoid elementary errors. For example, leaving the smartphone without password protection, providing access to third parties, installing third-party suspicious applications and handwriting the compromise of their personalized data.

What organizations cooperate

A complete list of issuing organizations that support Apple Pay can be found on the company's official website - //support.apple.com/ru-ru/HT206637.

For example:

"Alfa Bank"

Bank "Devon Credit"

Bank opening"

Gazprombank

"Home Credit Bank"

"Moscow Industrial Bank"

MTS Bank

OTP Bank

"Mail Bank"

Promsvyazbank

Raiffeisenbank

"Rocketbank"

Rosbank

"Agricultural Bank"

Russian Standard Bank (Mastercard credit and debit cards)

Sberbank

SKB-Bank

Sovcombank

Tinkoff Bank

Bank "Point" (Mastercard debit cards)

"UniCredit Bank"

Bank "VTB 24"

Yandex.Money (prepaid Mastercard)

By the way, the list of these organizations is the largest in Europe. Coverage is almost 100%.

How to enable and configure

The time has come to bring the procedure for setting up and adding payment elements for their subsequent active use. Setup is simple and takes just a few minutes:

• Open the Wallet app and tap the + icon, which is located in the upper right corner of the screen.
• Click the Add Credit or Debit Card button and scan it or enter information manually.
• Follow the instructions of your issuing bank and wait for confirmation of the success of adding a card.

Everything is as simple as possible. And by the same principle, you can add bonus cards to the system and pay for purchases with appropriate balls on the conditions established for this.

How to pay

Currently, the scope of “Apple Pay” is extended to all major shopping options, for example, it is payment in pos-terminals of shops, in specialized applications, in online stores, to pay in public transport, respectively, the organization must support the acceptance of payments like in a way. And about everything in more detail.

In the shops:

• Double-click on the “Home” button and confirm your credentials with a fingerprint or face scanner.
• Wait until the seller enters the amount to pay, and bring the smartphone back cover to the terminal.
• Wait for payment confirmation.

In the applications and on the websites of online stores:

• Add the item you need to the store and place an order.
• If this is required, wait for confirmation from the store.
• From the available payment methods, select "Apple Pay".
• Check the previously entered data (name, address, method of delivery, etc.).
• By analogy with the above, confirm the payment.

In public transport, payment is made in the same way as in a regular pos-terminal with Paypass support, but in the Russian Federation, as indicated on the company's official website, several organizations in Moscow, Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg support payment.

Conclusion

At any time, if desired, you can remove from the system previously added bank and bonus cards. To do this, you just need to open the “Wallet” application, click on the “***” icon and select “Delete card”. In addition, you can simply disable in the settings the activation of the “Double-tap the Home button” mode, which prevents the smartphone and the system from responding to such an action. In general, both Apple Pay and all similar services operate on a similar formula, are equipped with all modern safety standards and every year more and more closely fall within the scope of client purchases. Definitely, the future is for them.