The Home Depot and H-E-B are finally rolling out support for Apple Pay
by https://www.facebook.com/dujkan, Christian Zibreg · iDownloadBlog.comThe Home Depot and H-E-B are finally rolling out support for Apple Pay
Christian Zibreg ∙ October 10, 2024
The Home Depot and H-E-B have begun rolling out support for Apple Pay and other contactless payment services at their retail stores.
H-E-B, the nation’s largest grocery store chain, said it will accept Apple Pay at its flagship retail stores in the United States. It will also support other digital wallets and services, including Google Pay and Samsung Pay.
This is a staggered rollout, so it may take a few weeks before you can pay with Apple Pay at any H-E-B store. “During the phased rollout, H-E-B will launch tap to pay region by region and the service will become available at groups of stores each day throughout the month,” the grocery store chain wrote in the announcement.
Apple Pay is coming to H-E-B stores
“The service will first become available at H-E-B stores in the San Antonio area, where it will take about a week to launch at every location in the region,” the announcement says. “Throughout the month, the retailer will continue to roll out the service to all other H-E-B stores across Texas, as well as Mi Tienda stores in Houston.”
Contactless payments at H-E-B stores will support other ways to pay, including NFC-enabled physical cards. Contactless payment terminals are installed at cash registers, self-checkout lanes and H-E-B brand restaurants and pharmacy locations. “Initially, tap-to-pay services will not be available at H-E-B fuel pumps but will be accepted at the fuel station payment window,” the company said.
H-E-B previously brought Apple Pay support at its Central Market and Joe V’s Smart Shop stores.
The Home Depot bringing back Apple Pay support
Home Depot originally accepted Apple Pay, but in 2015, it quietly removed support from its checkout counters. However, it looks like the home improvement retailer has changed its mind, according to reports on social media, noting that Apple Pay is now working at some of the Home Depot stores.
The company has confirmed to 9to5Mac that it will soon use Apple Pay and other contactless payment services. “We have begun rolling out contactless as a payment option in our U.S. stores. We anticipate the rollout will be completed to most of our stores and registers later this year,” Home Depot spokesperson Beth Marlowe told the site.
What about Walmart?
Walmart is unlikely to start accepting Apple Pay because it’s been pushing its own Walmart Pay and Walmart+ platforms. People unhappy with Walmart’s stance have been pretty vocal about it on social media.
On the other hand, the big-box retailer could change its mind when iOS 18.1 arrives as that update will open up the iPhone’s NFC to third-party apps for the first time. Theoretically, Walmart could integrate contactless payment options into its iOS app using the new APIs in iOS 18.1. Also, Walmart supports Apple Pay in Canada as of 2020, so there’s that.