Apple Pay has been out for a week now and there are likely quite a few people who just aren’t quite sure about how it works or if it is private, safe, and secure. Here are some pros and cons of Apple’s newest features.
Pros
The main issue is that Apple Pay is secure; your credit card or debit number is never stored on your device; instead, a Device Account Number is stored. This means that even if someone else got hold of your DAN, they wouldn’t be able to use it because it has to be used on your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.
If your iPhone is stolen or lost, you only have to cancel that one DAN; you don’t need to cancel your actual credit card, and you won’t need to change credit card numbers with all the companies that may have it (like your utility company, cell phone company, or whomever else uses your credit card for monthly bills).
Privacy-wise, the merchant doesn’t get access to your card number, and Apple doesn’t see what you bought.
Cons
If you’re looking for some super-private transactions, you’re not going to get that with Apple Pay. The value, location, and time of your transactions are known to Apple and your credit card provider, and to every other business with whom they share that information. The merchant knows what was purchased. In other words, if anyone does any data matching, all that info could potentially be known by interested parties. Throw in the fact that so many merchants have video cameras at their cashiers, and face recognition tech is getting very good.
Another con is that some merchants still need your loyalty card in order to give you collected loyalty points or credits, so you still have to carry a wallet.
Finally, for the cons section, your phone could die and you’d have no way to buy anything if you didn’t have your wallet, so you might need to carry your cards anyway.
