Popular movie ticket service Fandango has today updated its iOS with a highly requested feature. Bumping the app to version 7.1, Fandango for iOS has added support for Apple’s mobile payment solution, Apple Pay.
Fandango’s Apple Pay integration works just the same as it does with other third-party. When you go to purchase a ticket, you can now choose Apple Pay as a checkout option, significantly expediting the process.
Fandango’s addition of Apple Pay comes just a week after the iOS App Store added a new Shopping category to showcase apps like Fandango. Fandango’s support for Apple Pay has been a long time coming. Apple and Fandango have seemingly had a solid relationship thus far. Fandango powers database powers Siri’s support for movie times and reviews, so it’s odd that it took so long for the app itself to support Apple Pay. Fandango was also one of the first companies to release an Apple Watch app.
Fandango version 7.1 with Apple Pay support is available now on the App Store for free.
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Excellent news. My theater which requires reserved seating is supported so I will use this every time I go to the movies. I didn’t even have to add my credit card to Fandango’s web site or app.
Apple Pay support should be a given for any e-commerce app because it reduces the friction to use it. Just select a card, present your fingerprint and go.
If you use fandango with any kind of regularity, it’s just easier to store your cc info w/ fandango, which is what I’m sure most people have been doing up until this point. Using your cc stored with Fandango actually takes one less ‘tap’. Also, if you ever use the fandango website, then you’ll need to enter your cc info there anyway (unless you have it stored), since Apple Pay doesn’t extend to any type of web browser.
The broader point I’m after is that in-app Apple Pay is generally not much of an improvement over the usual methods when you’re using the app to buy something more than once. For example, you can use Apple Pay to load your Starbucks card, but isn’t it just easier to the card to auto-load? To make a distinction, I do think there is value in using Apple Pay to buy stuff on the internet, but I think that generally, if you’ve gone as far as downloading an app for the sake of purchasing something, you’re probably going to use that app again. And at that point, it’s probably simpler to just store your cc info with the merchant (security concerns notwithstanding, but I think that’s a somewhat different discussion). Now, using Apple Pay for one-off internet purchases is something where it would really shine, since entering your cc on some random unknown site every time you want to make some little random purchase is annoying. But of course in those cases, you’re probably more likely to be making your transaction in Safari than in an app. And of course, again, Apple Pay doesn’t work in Safari. So what am I trying to say? Apple should bring Apple Pay to the web. It would be a lot more useful than in-app Apple Pay. Yes, they’d be competing with the likes of paypal, google checkout, visa checkout, etc., but I think it would have an advantage for iOS users because of ease of use.
tl;dr: Apple Pay in fandango is not a big deal, because I store my cc w/ fandango. Apple Pay for internet purchases would be much more useful if it was available for Safari.
I agree with you that Apple Pay for the web would be a great extension. I use Visa Checkout, MasterCard’s MasterPass and rarely PayPal. I would still prefer Apple Pay over all of those.
However, Fandango nor Starbucks nor Priceline doesn’t have my credit card info because I use Apple Pay. It is an issue of security but also of maintenance. If I change credit cards for better benefits or one gets compromised or lost or they expire, I have three merchants for this example that I don’t have to update. I am only updating Apple Pay and most of the time that is done automatically.
Plus on the backend, the merchant only has my device account number in a database on their servers. If hackers, internal or external, compromise that database they get no information.
So Apple Pay in App gives me security at the transaction level, security for the merchants customer database and no maintenance.
I use quite a few apps with Apple Pay (Target, Etsy, Priceline (Hotels), Best Buy, Kohl’s, Gyft (Gift Cards), Starbucks, Houzz, Chairish, Lyft, GroupOn, Uber, Stub Hub, Ticket Master). So that’s a lot of places to leave my credit card info.
So I agree for one merchant, it may not be a big deal but it’s a significant add for a growing collection, in my opinion. Cheers.
I just wish that fandango would let you choose Apple Pay as your default payment method