How secure is Apple Pay?

Apple Pay is a practical payment service, but many smartphone users wonder how secure it is. Thanks to multi-level security procedures, the digital payment service is in no way inferior to classic methods.

How Apple Pay works: Secure payment without cash

Apple Pay is Apple’s payment service that makes it quick and easy to pay with your smartphone. All iPhone and iPad models with Face or Touch ID offer the service, except the iPhone 5s.

• In order for the whole thing to really work, you first deposit your credit card in the Passbook app and have Apple Pay activated at your bank. It is now also possible to use Apple Pay without a credit card.
• Thanks to NFC, you don’t even have to open an app to pay. All you need to do is hold your device up to the card reader of participating shops and then pay with your fingerprint on the home button.

This is how secure Apple Pay really is

Apple Pay is a quick and easy way to pay, but some users are concerned that their phone could be hacked or stolen and the system exploited.

• What makes Apple Pay special is the encryption and transmission: Your credit card is only stored in the Passbook app and is not transmitted to Apple or the shops. You pay using a “Device Account Number”, which is stored encrypted on the device. This means your iDevice only transmits this non-identifiable code and not your actual account number.
• Privacy is also protected with Apple Pay: The merchant cannot analyse any data from you through the payment process, only your bank receives the information about the payments made with the credit card on file.
• On Touch ID: A person’s fingerprint is unique – and should therefore also be secure. However, the owner’s fingerprint is present multiple times on the device, so other people could easily get hold of the fingerprint and use it to pay.
• If your smartphone is stolen, however, you can report this to your bank and they will delete the virtual connection to your smartphone. So you don’t have to worry about fraud with Apple Pay.
• One weak point, however, is synchronisation: if you save something on your iOS device, it is automatically transferred to your other devices via iCloud as well. This makes it theoretically possible for cyber criminals to obtain your data.
• Conclusion: In principle, all important data is encrypted and the separate “Device Account Number” in particular ensures sufficient security. However, a small residual risk remains even with Apple’s payment service.