Some Countries Can Now Use Apple Pay For iTunes, App Store, Apple Music, And More

Theresa Casimir, May 16, 2019

Apple Pay finally an option for digital purchases.

You can now use Apple Pay to make purchases from iTunes, the App Store and Apple Books. According to Apple’s support page for Apple ID payments, the change is live in the United States, Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and United Arab Emirates but they might not be available in all of those locations just yet.

How to use Apple Pay for digital purchases

There are several ways to buy digital content from Apple. You can use your credit or debit card, Apple gift cards, and in many countries, PayPal. After a lengthy wait, there’s now one more. The company’s own mobile payments system can also be used for Apple Music and iCloud storage subscriptions. Here’s how to set it up.

You can add Apple Pay as a payment option by following these steps:

Ensure you have a credit or debit card linked to Apple Pay
Open Settings and select iTunes & App Store
Select your Apple ID and then tap View Apple ID
Tap Manage Payments then Add Payment Method
Tap the card you want to use in the Found in Wallet list.
You don’t need to update your iOS device — this is a server-side change. However, it’s always a good idea to be running the latest version of iOS.

You will, of course, need to first add a credit or debit card that you’d like to use with store purchases in the Wallet app. This is a server-side change so no update is necessary.

Why you should use Apple Pay

Not only is Apple Pay support incredibly convenient, but there are a number of other benefits, too. It’s more secure than other payment methods, and it lets you quickly switch between the various cards you have linked to the Wallet app.

It’s actually pretty surprising it has taken Apple this long to add Apple Pay as a payment option for digital content. Since it’s a server-side update, it’s unclear exactly when it rolled out in each region, and no iOS update should be necessary. It also may take a little while to show up for some users.