CVS Pharmacy Now Accepting Apple Pay in Stores

Thursday October 11, 2018 7:06 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard

CVS Pharmacy has officially launched support for Apple Pay nationwide this week, a few months after Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed that the retailer would be accepting Apple Pay later in the year. CVS has been gradually rolling out support for Apple Pay at its stores in recent weeks, and now it appears to be officially complete.

cvs apple pay
Using Apple Pay, CVS customers can now pay for their items on compatible iPhones and Apple Watches, by placing the devices close to a near field communication (NFC) payment terminal at checkout. In a marketing email being sent out to customers, Apple encourages shoppers to check out at CVS with its mobile wallet:

Get your essentials in a flash. Buying snacks, vitamins, personal care, and prescriptions from CVS Pharmacy just got faster and more secure.

At the launch of Apple Pay in 2014, CVS disabled NFC payment terminals at some of its locations in order to stop the use of Apple Pay. A few years later, the company debuted "CVS Pay," which used a barcode-based system to allow customers to check out using their smartphone and the CVS Pharmacy app.

Now that CVS has turned around and rolled out Apple Pay support, there are just a few remaining large retail chains refraining from supporting Apple's mobile wallet. This includes Target, which previously said it has no plans to accept Apple Pay in its stores and instead launched a "Wallet" feature in the Target iOS app, allowing customers to pay for their groceries and other items with their smartphone at checkout.

Another is Walmart, which has followed a similar trajectory as Target: the company confirmed it has no plans to support Apple Pay in its retail stores, instead pushing its own "Walmart Pay" mobile wallet checkout option. As with CVS, these companies could eventually decide to accept Apple Pay as a checkout option for customers, but as of now it doesn't appear like this will happen anytime soon.

Apple Pay launched in the United States in October 2014, providing tap-to-pay functionality with a compatible iPhone or Apple Watch after setting up a supported credit or debit card in the Wallet app. Apple Pay is now available in more than 20 countries, and now also supports a person-to-person payment feature called Apple Pay Cash.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Tag: CVS

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Top Rated Comments

parseckadet

105 months ago

Why that's so big news in US? In EU we can use ApplePay literally everywhere, where the contactless terminal is, so just about everywhere, even it the smallest grocery stories.

Please, why do we have to have these comments in every Apple Pay thread? Go back and read the many, many other Apple Pay threads.

Also, read the article. CVS is particularly notable because it originally worked there when Apple Pay launched, but they disabled NFC payments entirely for the sole purpose of not supporting Apple Pay. They were one of the first and biggest retailers to resist Apple Pay, and now they have reversed course. That's highly notable.

Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)

zorinlynx

105 months ago

Card issuers should start mandating that contactless payments be enabled at all retailers that take those cards, just as they have been doing with chip cards.

I think that's the only way that this idiotic ******** will finally stop.

Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Jaro65

105 months ago

Good. I use Apple Pay with my Apple Watch wherever it is available. Tapping your wrist is so much more convenient than reaching into your pocket....

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

euvnairb

105 months ago

I really wish gas stations would start accepting NFC/Apple Pay at the pump (Shell in particular). This is an area that needs contactless payment because so many thief's use credit card skimmers around here.

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)