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Apple Pay statistics

Research and facts for Apple Pay in the US including users, transactions and retailer adoption.

Elizabeth Barry's headshot

By

Elizabeth Barry

Edited by

Melanie Huddart

Updated

Fact checked

What is Apple Pay?

Apple Pay is Apple’s mobile payment service, allowing you to make contactless payments with an Apple device such as an iPhone or Apple Watch. Link your credit card, debit card or bank account in the app, choose your payment method and tap your device to pay.

Use Apple Pay at millions of in-store and online locations where merchants accept contactless payments — or Apple Pay if the purchase is online.

Key statistics

  • Apple Pay was launched in the US on September 9, 2014.
  • There are 507 million Apple Pay users worldwide.
  • The US comes second only to the UK for Apple Pay adoption.
  • Over 85% of retailers in the US accept Apple Pay.

Number of Apple Pay users globally

  • 48% of iPhone owners use Apple Pay globally.
  • Worldwide, Apple Pay had 507 million users as of September 2020.
  • Global Apple Pay users grew by 65 million between 2019 and 2020.
YearGlobal users
201667 million
2017137 million
2018292 million
2019441 million
2020507 million

Contactless payment uptake is slow, but Apple Pay is the go-to choice

  • Contactless transactions only represented 6% of debit card transactions in 2022.
  • In 2021, Apple Pay represented 88% of mobile wallet transaction volume.

Apple Pay is on US phones, but usage is still low

  • The US is second only behind the UK in Apple Pay adoption out of 17 countries ranked for adoption rates globally.
  • However, 93.9% of American consumers with Apple Pay activated on their phones don’t use it in-store to pay for purchases.
  • An analysis found that Apple Pay had the potential to facilitate $889 billion in brick-and-mortar sales in 2020, but it was only used for $64.8 billion worth of sales.
UsersPercentage
Do not use in-store93.9%
Use in-store6.1%

How Americans use Apple Pay

  • Five out of 10 Americans said they had used Apple Pay in a store or restaurant between August 2020 and August 2021.
  • Two out of 10 Americans said they had used Apple Pay while online shopping between August 2020 and August 2021.
  • As of 2020, 28% of America’s top 100 retailers offer Apple Pay on desktop.
  • 39% of the top 100 retailers offered Apple Pay on mobile in 2020.
  • 43% of the top 100 retailers offer Apple Pay on their apps in 2020.
YearDesktopMobileApps
20179%13%22%
201814%24%24%
201923%28%36%
202028%39%43%

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Melanie Huddart's headshot
To make sure you get accurate and helpful information, this guide has been edited by Melanie Huddart as part of our fact-checking process.
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Lead editor

Elizabeth Barry is Digital Managing Editor for Entertainment at Are Media and formerly the lead editor for Finder's global financial niches which includes banking, crypto and investments. She has written about finance for 10 years and is regularly featured in a range of publications and media including Seven News, the ABC, MSN, the Irish Times and Singapore Business Review. See full bio

Elizabeth's expertise
Elizabeth has written 2 Finder guides across topics including:
  • Banking
  • Personal finance
  • Crypto banking
  • Investing
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