Apple Pay arrives in UK

Starting next month, Apple Pay will be available to customers in the UK across 250,000 locations, confirmed the tech leader at their annual WWDC conference on Monday (June 8).

Launching in July, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch users will be able to make purchases anywhere the system is accepted.

Boots, BP, Costa Coffee, Marks & Spencer and McDonald’s are among brands making up an “exclusive group of early adopters”.

Transport for London will also accept the contactless payment tool.

Apple also announced the rebranding of Passbook to Wallet – with the renamed app now acting as a single place on your iOS device to store debit cards and special payments coupons and store loyalty cards.

Users will simply hold their iPhone’s near the contactless reader while keeping a finger on Touch ID.

When adding a credit or debit card, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, nor on Apple servers.

Apple Pay will support UK credit and debit cards from American Express, MasterCard and Visa Europe.

In-app shopping will also be streamlined, with apps such as Addison Lee, Airbnb and Argos letting users pay with the touch of a finger – on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.

“Apple Pay has quickly become a big part of millions of users’ everyday shopping routines, providing a simpler, faster and more secure way to pay,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services.

“We’re thrilled to bring Apple Pay to the UK with support at launch from the most popular banks, an incredible roster of merchants and many of our users’ favorite apps.”