During its earnings call earlier this week, Apple touted the continued growth of Apple Pay and teased support for new apps and transit services this year. Now, the UK government has started accepted Apple Pay for some online payment services.
As detailed by ITV, the gov.uk website is now accepting Apple Pay for four of its online services. The online platforms supporting Apple Pay include the Global Entry Services, the disclosure and barring service checks, the Registered Traveler Service, and the Electronic Visa Waiver Service.
Apple Pay support will be expanded to local government, police, and the NHS later this year, the report notes.
The gov.uk website launched its online pay platform in 2016, the report explains, with initial support for credit and debit cards. The expansion of Apple Pay support means that users can rely on Apple’s payment service for an added layer of both security and convenience:
Till Wirth, lead product manager of gov.uk Pay, said: “Allowing people to pay for Government services through Apple Pay and Google Pay means they won’t have to enter their credit or debit card information when making payments.
“This innovation will increase the convenience and security of gov.uk Pay for users and hopefully make their experience online a lot easier.”
Furthermore, UK minister for implementation, Oliver Dowden, said that by adding Apple Pay support to gov.uk, it can reduce fraud while also making it easier for citizens to making online payments:
“We’re focused on making access to Government services as easy as possible. And introducing mobile payment to gov.uk Pay will also make transactions more secure.
“This is another example of how we are working smarter as a Government – improving services for people as well as reducing fraud and costs.”
Apple Pay on the web works by authenticating you via Touch ID, Face ID, or a paired Apple Watch. The feature originally launched with macOS Sierra and iOS 10 in 2016 and has been gradually adopted by new websites since then.
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