Is Apple Pay not working after iOS 16 update? This article explains what you can do to fix the problem.
Apple Pay is a contactless payment technology for Apple devices. It was designed to move consumers away from physical wallets into a world where your debit and credit cards are on your iPhone or Apple Watch, allowing you to pay using your device instead of a card.
While it works seamlessly at all times, it may run into errors. Sometimes you may get error messages like “Could not connect to Apple Pay” or “An error occurred…”. Sometimes when you attempt to pay with Apple Pay just like you did before to pay, nothing happens this time. In this article, we’ll explain why Apple Pay is not working on iPhone running iOS 16 and show you how to fix the issue.
The Causes of Apple Pay Not Working in iOS 16
The most common reasons for Apple Pay not working in iOS 16 is that the phone is low on battery charge, or the store doesn’t have the capability to accept Apple Pay. Then again, there are times when you can’t get Apple Pay to work, which is inconvenient to deal with if you don’t usually carry cash. There could be issues with the Apple Pay servers, a faulty digital payment terminal, or problems with a particular debit or credit card.
How to Fix Apple Pay Not Working in iOS 16
If you have trouble getting Apple Pay to work, there are a few things that you can do to resolve the issue. Most of these are fast and easy solutions to fix the problem and get Apple Pay working again.
1. Make sure the business accepts Apple Pay
If it does, it may be that a particular terminal isn’t working when you use Apple Pay. When you experience this problem, ask if there is another terminal you can use. Once you know which terminal accepts Apple Pay, keep it in mind for future transactions.
2. Close and reopen the Apple Wallet app
Apps can freeze or lock up. Closing and reopening the Apple Wallet app may resolve issues related to Apple Pay.
Swipe up from the bottom of your home screen to reveal the app switcher. Swipe left or right until you find the wallet. Swipe up on the app’s preview to close it. Then reopen the Wallet.
3. Restart your iPhone
If you’re still unable to use Apple pay on your iOS 16 device, you should try restarting your phone. This resets your phone’s memory and clears temporary caches, which can solve temporary glitches with Apple Pay and other system software. If you are not in a hurry (this will take several minutes), get out of line and restart the phone, then try again after the phone is back up and running.
Press and hold the side and the volume up (or down) buttons together until the power off slider appears. Then drag the slider. Wait until your device completely shuts off. Then press and hold the power button until you see the Apple logo.
4. Check Your Battery Life
Low Battery Mode can throw all your apps out of whack, including Apple Pay. If your battery is below 20 percent, and Apple Pay suddenly isn’t working in iOS 16, the low battery could be the culprit. Charge your battery and try again.
5. See if Apple Pay Is Down
You may not have an Apple Pay problem. The Apple Pay servers might be down due to technical issues, which has nothing to do with iOS 16. When this is the case, wait for the service to start working again.
To find out whether Apple Pay is experiencing any downtime, go to the Apple System Status website and check if there is a green circle next to Apple Pay. A green circle rules out a service failure. You can move on to other solutions.
6. ALLOW ACCESS WHEN LOCKED
If you are having this problem on your iOS 16 device, make sure that the Wallet app setting is allowed to access when your device is locked. Here is how you can adjust this setting:
On your iOS 16 device, go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode > enter your passcode and scroll down and find the “allow access when locked” section and make sure that Wallet is enabled.
7. Remove Your Case
Sometimes your iPhone case can get in the way of using Apple Pay on a reader. Try taking your case off and scanning again to see if this works.
8. Choose Credit
If you’re trying to use a debit card, try running it as credit instead. Reportedly, sometimes Apple Pay can be finicky with debit, but users have had success switching to credit.
9. Manually Select Your Card
It’s possible your default card isn’t what you thought it is, and that’s what’s messing you up. More than once I’ve been confused about which of the cards in my Wallet I was paying with and ended up unable to pay with the one that was selected. If you’re running into trouble, go into your Wallet app and manually select the card you want to use. All you have to do is tap on it, and, if all is right, you should see a notification reading, “[CARD NAME] is ready for Apple Pay.”
10. Remove & Re-Add the Card
There may be a credit or debit card that gives you repeated issues when you use it on Apple Pay. This can happen when you get a new credit card from your provider, and the changed information is not immediately updated on Apple Pay. If this is the case, remove the card information and re-add it to fix the issue.
11. Check for iOS updates.
The most common reason for Apple Pay to face errors is generally updates. Always ensure that your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS 16. To check for iOS updates, go to Settings > General > Software Update. If there is an update available, follow the onscreen instructions to install the update on your device.
12. Log out of your Apple ID and back in again
It’s possible that something has gone awry with the way you are signed into your Apple account, so in the same way that you might have tried to restart your iPhone or replace your credit card, you can sign out of your Apple ID and sign back in again. Go to Settings > Your Name > Sign Out.
13. Check your Apple Pay Settings
If none of these work, you might want to go into your Apple Pay settings just to make sure everything is set up.
14. Reset all iPhone settings
If Apple Pay is not working on your iOS 16 device after trying the above solutions, you can try resetting all your iPhone settings. If mismatched settings from iOS 16 are causing background conflicts on your device, then this should help fix your issue. Open the Settings app > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings.
Confirm your choice by entering your passcode and all Settings should now reset for your device.
15. Call Your Bank
If none of the above fixes work, it might be time to call your bank or financial institution that issued your card. Perhaps Apple Pay did not work on your iOS 16 device because your card is declined because of various reasons including the following:
- Your card may have expired.
- Your card does not have sufficient funds for the transaction.
- Your card payment is past due.
- Your card has been flagged for fraud and thus your account was blocked by your bank.
Simply call your card issuer and find out the reason.
16. Contact Apple customer support
If none of those troubleshooting steps solved the problem, you should contact Apple Support. It’s possible that you have a hardware problem for example, the NFC chip used to communicate with the point of sale terminal might not be working. This isn’t something you can easily test or troubleshoot on your own, so enlist the help of Apple. Remember to make an Apple Genius Bar appointment before you take an iPhone to a local Apple Store so you won’t have to wait in line for help.
Fixed Apple Pay not working in iOS 16
We hope you were able to fix Apple Pay on your iOS 16 device using the above-mentioned fixes. So, which tricks proved lucky for you? Don’t forget to let me know your feedback and the tip that did the trick for you.
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