After years of holding out, Walmart today announced that it will finally begin accepting tap-to-pay options like Apple Pay in some of its Walmart and Sam's Club stores in the U.S. starting Monday, August 24. The retailer plans to roll out tap-to-pay support to all of its U.S. stores by the end of 2026 and to its gas stations by mid-2027.
"We want customers and members to have choice in how they pay, so they can check out in the way that works best for them," said Walmart, in a press release.
Other major U.S. retailers like The Home Depot, Lowe's, Kroger, and Texas-based grocery store chain H-E-B already reversed course and rolled out tap-to-pay support in recent years, leaving Walmart as one of the most notable remaining holdouts until now.
Before this, Walmart prioritized its own Walmart Pay system that involves scanning a QR code at checkout, but it has finally listened to customer feedback and decided to accept NFC-based tap-to-pay options like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay at its U.S. stores. Tap-to-pay support extends to physical credit and debit cards.
With Apple Pay, launched in 2014, you can simply hold your iPhone or Apple Watch near the payment terminal to pay with a digital version of an eligible credit or debit card stored in the Apple Wallet app. Apple Pay has a lot of privacy protections, including hiding a customer's actual credit card number during the payment process.
Existing payment options like Walmart Pay will remain available.
Walmart has already accepted Apple Pay in its Canadian stores since 2020. It is unclear if the retailer will begin accepting tap-to-pay options in Mexico too.