Near Field Communications (NFC) is a technology that has been bandied about for some time now. Some industry analysts have boldly predicted that it will revolutionize the way consumer transactions are executed. The vision is that rather than carrying around bulky wallets filled with different MasterCards, Visas, and what’s that other thing again? Oh yeah, …cash! We’ll simply whip out our smartphones, point, and hovercraft home with our new gravity belts, tele porters, and time machines.
Well, not so fast. The state-of-the-art technology has been slow to gain acceptance, largely based on security and privacy concerns. However, Apple believes those concerns have been properly addressed, and NFC is ready to roll. Thus, here comes Apple Pay. For now, it’s only being released in the U.S., and it’s also only available for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users, but that does account for quite a large amount of people already, and it’s going to account for exponentially more based on the hugely positive customer response to the new devices. If you’re ready to give Apple Pay a try, here’s a quick step-by-step how to guide:
- Update to at least iOS 8.1. This update should be sufficient to address the normal bugs and glitches that may have occurred with the original iOS 8 upgrade, and it will be all you need to use Apple Pay immediately. Happy downloading!
- Open Passbook. Yay, an actual purpose for Passbook! Add your preferred credit card to the app by using the scanner on your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus device.
- Choose from one of over 220,000 retailers thus far, to accept Apple Pay. This list is sure to grow by leaps and bounds, but it already includes such giants as McDonalds, Macys, Walgreens, and Chevron gas stations.
- Pay by simply holding down the TouchID fingerprint sensor on your device and point it at the Apple Pay reader that your chosen retailer has set up to conduct transactions.
That’s it; you’ve successfully made a purchase using Apple Pay and the NFC technology embedded into your new iPhone. If you’re concerned that losing your iPhone will compromise your security and allow bandits from around the world to steal your millions, then use the Find My Phone feature to put into “Lost” mode, which will sufficiently suspend all Apple Pay activity from that device. Now, feel free to go buy that gravity belt you’ve always wanted, or at least a super cool new pair of sneakers.
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