- Setting Up Apple Pay on an iPhone or iPad is Easy
- What You Should Know About Apple Pay's Security
- Final Thoughts?
What You Should Know About Apple Pay’s Security
What makes Apple Pay more secure than using a traditional credit card, is that the merchant (or Apple) never sees your name or your actual credit card number. Instead, your iOS mobile device creates a unique Device Account Number (which remains encrypted and securely stored within the device) when you activate the Apple Pay feature. Then, for each transaction, a separate, transaction-specific security code is created and used to process the payment. Transactions can only be processed when your own fingerprint is used on the iPhone or iPad’s Touch ID sensor.
So, even if your iPhone or iPad gets lost or stolen, it is not possible for someone else to use your stored credit or debit card(s) to make purchases, because the Touch ID sensor will not recognize their fingerprint. Plus, as soon as you notice your device has been lost or stolen, you can use the Find My iPhone or Find My iPad feature to remotely lock down the device, erase the device, and/or suspend Apple Pay functionality.
It’s important to understand that the Passbook app does keep a record of your recent Apple Pay transactions, which you can access from your iPhone or iPad. However, Apple does not have access to this information, so your purchases remain private.
Likewise, fingerprint data is stored on a chip within the iPhone or iPad that is not accessible by other technology within the device. Thus, it is not possible for someone (or Apple) to remotely hack into your smartphone or tablet in order to access, copy, or steal your fingerprint data.