While making more swift and secure purchases at bricks and mortar stores might be the most well-known use of Apple Pay, it’s too easy to overlook how the in-app element of the mobile payments service has transformed the iPad into a formidable online shopping tool.
The availability of Apple Pay on iPad
All iPads released in 2014 or later – so, the iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 3, iPad Mini 4 and both the 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch versions of the iPad Pro – can use in-app Apple Pay in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, China and Singapore.
Once a user of one of these iPads has set up their compatible payment card with Apple Pay in the Settings app, they can easily use the service to make purchases. In select apps, they just have to tap the Apple Pay button before resting their finger on the Touch ID sensor.
The most secure online shopping experience yet?
One obvious convenience of using Apple Pay in this manner is that, as the user has already inputted their payment details and set up Touch ID in their device’s Settings app, there is no need for them to manually re-enter these payment details or follow separate security procedures when buying within an app – which considerably speeds up the buying process.
Furthermore, the company from which you are purchasing never actually sees your payment details – and this, coupled with the regular iOS updates that Apple is sending out for all Apple Pay-ready iPads, allows for a buying process bolstered with cast-iron security.
Unique merits of shopping on iPad
The larger screen can also make online shopping on iPad more immersive than on iPhone. In such shopping apps as Etsy and Fancy, more items can be simultaneously displayed, which lessens the necessity of potentially awkward scrolling. And, of course, it’s easier to enjoy a more zoomed-in look at photos of any items that you are considering buying.
The Fancy app – which, we should add, is free to download – offers Apple Pay as a payment option at checkout, not to mention support for the Split View multitasking feature available on the iPad Pro, iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 4. This can be good for making quick note of promising items as you browse through what’s on offer.
The similarly free Etsy and Apple Store apps, too, offer the option of Apple Pay at the checkout stage. However, neither yet supports Split View – meaning that you’ll have to make do with another multitasking feature, Slide Over, which is available on iPad Pro, iPad Air or later and iPad Mini 2 or later. Still, with few people having apparently recognized, Apple has been turning the iPad into possibly its most effective gadget for online shopping.
