Apple Pay

Allow customers to securely make payments using Apple Pay on their iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.

Stripe users can accept Apple Pay in iOS applications in iOS 9 and above, and on the web in Safari starting with iOS 10 or macOS Sierra. There are no additional fees to process Apple Pay payments, and the pricing is the same as other card transactions.

Apple Pay is compatible with most Stripe products and features (for example, subscriptions). Use it to accept payments for physical or digital goods, donations, subscriptions, and more (you can’t use Apple Pay instead of in-app purchases though).

Apple Pay is available to cardholders at participating banks in supported countries. Refer to Apple’s participating banks documentation to learn which banks and countries are supported.

Apple pay payment flow animation showing the Stripe checkout page, the Apple Pay button, and the confirmation dialog in test mode.

Using Stripe and Apple Pay versus in-app purchases

Apple Pay doesn’t replace Apple’s In-App Purchase API. You can use any of Stripe’s supported payment methods and Apple Pay in your iOS app to sell physical goods (for example, groceries and clothing) or for services your business provides (for example, club memberships and hotel reservations). These payments are processed through Stripe and you only need to pay Stripe’s processing fee.

Apple’s developer terms require their In-App Purchase API be used for digital “content, functionality, or services,” such as premium content for your app or subscriptions for digital content. Payments made using the In-App Purchase API are processed by Apple and subject to their transaction fees.

Accept Apple Pay

Stripe offers a variety of methods to add Apple Pay as a payment method. For integration details, select the method you prefer:

With the Stripe iOS SDK, you can accept both Apple Pay and traditional credit card payments. Before starting, you need to be enrolled in the Apple Developer Program. Next, follow these steps:

Set up Stripe
Register for an Apple Merchant ID
Create a new Apple Pay certificate
Integrate with Xcode
Check if Apple Pay is supported
Create the payment request
Present the payment sheet
Submit the payment to Stripe

Set up Stripe
Server-side
Client-side

First, you need a Stripe account. Register now.

Server-side

This integration requires endpoints on your server that talk to the Stripe API. Use the official libraries for access to the Stripe API from your server:

Command Line

# Available as a gem
sudo gem install stripe

Gemfile

# If you use bundler, you can add this line to your Gemfile
gem 'stripe'

Client-side

The Stripe iOS SDK is open source, fully documented, and compatible with apps supporting iOS 13 or above.

To install the SDK, follow these steps:

In Xcode, select File > Add Packages… and enter https://github.com/stripe/stripe-ios-spm as the repository URL.
Select the latest version number from our releases page.
Add the StripeApplePay product to the target of your app.

Note

For details on the latest SDK release and past versions, see the Releases page on GitHub. To receive notifications when a new release is published, watch releases for the repository.

Configure the SDK with your Stripe publishable key on app start. This enables your app to make requests to the Stripe API.

AppDelegate.swift

import UIKit
import StripeApplePay

@main
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
        StripeAPI.defaultPublishableKey = "pk_test_TYooMQauvdEDq54NiTphI7jx"
        // do any other necessary launch configuration
        return true
    }
}

Note

Use your test mode keys while you test and develop, and your live mode keys when you publish your app.

Register for an Apple Merchant ID

Obtain an Apple Merchant ID by registering for a new identifier on the Apple Developer website.

Fill out the form with a description and identifier. Your description is for your own records and you can modify it in the future. Stripe recommends using the name of your app as the identifier (for example, merchant.com.{{YOUR_APP_NAME}}).

Create a new Apple Pay certificate

Create a certificate for your app to encrypt payment data.

Go to the iOS Certificate Settings in the Dashboard, click Add new application, and follow the guide.

Download a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) file to get a secure certificate from Apple that allows you to use Apple Pay.

One CSR file must be used to issue exactly one certificate. If you switch your Apple Merchant ID, you must go to the iOS Certificate Settings in the Dashboard to obtain a new CSR and certificate.

Integrate with Xcode

Add the Apple Pay capability to your app. In Xcode, open your project settings, click the Signing & Capabilities tab, and add the Apple Pay capability. You might be prompted to log in to your developer account at this point. Select the merchant ID you created earlier, and your app is ready to accept Apple Pay.

Check if Apple Pay is supported

Note

If you’re using PaymentSheet or STPPaymentContext, that class handles the rest for you.

Before displaying Apple Pay as a payment option in your app, determine if the user’s device supports Apple Pay and that they have a card added to their wallet:

CheckoutViewController.swift

import StripeApplePay
import PassKit

class CheckoutViewController: UIViewController, ApplePayContextDelegate {
    let applePayButton: PKPaymentButton = PKPaymentButton(paymentButtonType: .plain, paymentButtonStyle: .black)

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        // Only offer Apple Pay if the customer can pay with it
        applePayButton.isHidden = !StripeAPI.deviceSupportsApplePay()
        applePayButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(handleApplePayButtonTapped), for: .touchUpInside)
    }

    // ...continued in next step
}

Create the payment request

When the user taps the Apple Pay button, call StripeAPI paymentRequestWithMerchantIdentifier:country:currency: to create a PKPaymentRequest.

Then, configure the PKPaymentRequest to display your business name and the total. You can also collect information like billing details or shipping information.

See Apple’s documentation for full guidance on how to customize the payment request.

Note

Apple Pay Later doesn’t support saving cards for reuse. On iOS 17 and later, if you’re saving the customer’s card for future use, disable Apple Pay Later by setting applePayLaterAvailability on your PKPaymentRequest object.

CheckoutViewController.swift

func handleApplePayButtonTapped() {
    let merchantIdentifier = "merchant.com.your_app_name"
    let paymentRequest = StripeAPI.paymentRequest(withMerchantIdentifier: merchantIdentifier, country: "US", currency: "USD")

    // Configure the line items on the payment request
    paymentRequest.paymentSummaryItems = [
        // The final line should represent your company;
        // it'll be prepended with the word "Pay" (that is, "Pay iHats, Inc $50")
        PKPaymentSummaryItem(label: "iHats, Inc", amount: 50.00),
    ]
    // ...continued in next step
}

Present the payment sheet

Create an STPApplePayContext instance with the PKPaymentRequest and use it to present the Apple Pay sheet:

CheckoutViewController.swift

func handleApplePayButtonTapped() {
    // ...continued from previous step

    // Initialize an STPApplePayContext instance
    if let applePayContext = STPApplePayContext(paymentRequest: paymentRequest, delegate: self) {
        // Present Apple Pay payment sheet
        applePayContext.presentApplePay(on: self)
    } else {
        // There is a problem with your Apple Pay configuration
    }
}

Submit the payment to Stripe

Server-side

Make an endpoint that creates a PaymentIntent with an amount and currency. Always decide how much to charge on the server side, a trusted environment, as opposed to the client side. This prevents malicious customers from choosing their own prices.

Command Line

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_intents \
  -u sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "amount"=1099 \
  -d "currency"="usd"

Client-side

Implement applePayContext(_:didCreatePaymentMethod:completion:) to call the completion block with the PaymentIntent client secret retrieved from the endpoint above.

After you call the completion block, STPApplePayContext completes the payment, dismisses the Apple Pay sheet, and calls applePayContext(_:didCompleteWithStatus:error:) with the status of the payment. Implement this method to show a receipt to your customer.

CheckoutViewController.swift

extension CheckoutViewController {
    func applePayContext(_ context: STPApplePayContext, didCreatePaymentMethod paymentMethod: StripeAPI.PaymentMethod, paymentInformation: PKPayment, completion: @escaping STPIntentClientSecretCompletionBlock) {
        let clientSecret = ... // Retrieve the PaymentIntent client secret from your backend (see Server-side step above)
        // Call the completion block with the client secret or an error
        completion(clientSecret, error)
    }

    func applePayContext(_ context: STPApplePayContext, didCompleteWith status: STPApplePayContext.PaymentStatus, error: Error?) {
          switch status {
        case .success:
            // Payment succeeded, show a receipt view
            break
        case .error:
            // Payment failed, show the error
            break
        case .userCancellation:
            // User canceled the payment
            break
        @unknown default:
            fatalError()
        }
    }
}

Finally, handle post-payment events to do things like sending an order confirmation email to your customer, logging the sale in a database, or starting a shipping workflow.

Troubleshooting

If you’re seeing errors from the Stripe API when attempting to create tokens, you most likely have a problem with your Apple Pay Certificate. You’ll need to generate a new certificate and upload it to Stripe, as described on this page. Make sure you use a CSR obtained from your Dashboard and not one you generated yourself. Xcode often incorrectly caches old certificates, so in addition to generating a new certificate, Stripe recommends creating a new Apple Merchant ID as well.

If you receive the error:

You haven’t added your Apple merchant account to Stripe

it’s likely your app is sending data encrypted with a previous (non-Stripe) CSR/Certificate. Make sure any certificates generated by non-Stripe CSRs are revoked under your Apple Merchant ID. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, delete the merchant ID in your Apple account and re-create it. Then, create a new certificate based on the same (Stripe-provided) CSR that was previously used. You don’t need to upload this new certificate to Stripe. When finished, toggle the Apple Pay Credentials off and on in your app to ensure they refresh properly.

App Clips

The StripeApplePay module is a lightweight Stripe SDK optimized for use in an App Clip. Follow the above steps to add the StripeApplePay module to your App Clip’s target.

Note

The StripeApplePay module is only supported in Swift. Objective-C users must import STPApplePayContext from the Stripe module.

Migrating from STPApplePayContext

If you’re an existing user of STPApplePayContext and wish to switch to the lightweight Apple Pay SDK, follow these steps:

In your App Clip target’s dependencies, replace the Stripe module with the StripeApplePay module.
In your code, replace import Stripe with import StripeApplePay.
Replace your usage of STPApplePayContextDelegate with the new ApplePayContextDelegate protocol.
Change your implementation of applePayContext(_:didCreatePaymentMethod:completion:) to accept a StripeAPI.PaymentMethod.
Change your implementation of applePayContext(_:didCompleteWith:error:) to accept an STPApplePayContext.PaymentStatus.

Before

After

import Stripe

class CheckoutViewController: UIViewController, STPApplePayContextDelegate {
    func applePayContext(_ context: STPApplePayContext,
      didCreatePaymentMethod paymentMethod: STPPaymentMethod,
      paymentInformation: PKPayment,
      completion: @escaping STPIntentClientSecretCompletionBlock) {
        // ...
    }

    func applePayContext(_ context: STPApplePayContext,
      didCompleteWith status: STPPaymentStatus,
      error: Error?) {
        // ...
    }
}

import StripeApplePay

class CheckoutViewController: UIViewController, ApplePayContextDelegate {
    func applePayContext(_ context: STPApplePayContext,
      didCreatePaymentMethod paymentMethod: StripeAPI.PaymentMethod,
      paymentInformation: PKPayment,
      completion: @escaping STPIntentClientSecretCompletionBlock) {
        // ...
    }

    func applePayContext(_ context: STPApplePayContext,
      didCompleteWith status: STPApplePayContext.PaymentStatus,
      error: Error?) {
        // ...
    }
}

Recurring payments

In iOS 16 or later, you can adopt merchant tokens by setting the recurringPaymentRequest or automaticReloadPaymentRequest properties on PKPaymentRequest.

CheckoutViewController.swift

extension CheckoutViewController {
  func handleApplePayButtonTapped() {
    let request = StripeAPI.paymentRequest(withMerchantIdentifier: merchantIdentifier, country: "US", currency: "USD")

    let billing = PKRecurringPaymentSummaryItem(label: "My Subscription", amount: NSDecimalNumber(string: "59.99"))
    billing.startDate = Date()
    billing.endDate = Date().addingTimeInterval(60 * 60 * 24 * 365)
    billing.intervalUnit = .month

    request.recurringPaymentRequest = PKRecurringPaymentRequest(paymentDescription: "Recurring",
                                                                regularBilling: billing,
                                                                managementURL: URL(string: "https://my-backend.example.com/customer-portal")!)
    request.recurringPaymentRequest?.billingAgreement = "You'll be billed $59.99 every month for the next 12 months. To cancel at any time, go to Account and click 'Cancel Membership.'"
    request.paymentSummaryItems = [billing]
  }
}

To learn more about how to use recurring payments with Apple Pay, see Apple’s PassKit documentation.

Order tracking

To adopt order tracking in iOS 16 or later, implement the applePayContext(context:willCompleteWithResult:handler:) function in your ApplePayContextDelegate. Stripe calls your implementation after the payment is complete, but before iOS dismisses the Apple Pay sheet.

In your implementation:

Fetch the order details from your server for the completed order.
Add these details to the provided PKPaymentAuthorizationResult.
Call the provided completion handler on the main queue.

To learn more about order tracking, see Apple’s Wallet Orders documentation.

CheckoutViewController.swift

extension CheckoutViewController {
    func applePayContext(_ context: STPApplePayContext, willCompleteWithResult authorizationResult: PKPaymentAuthorizationResult, handler: @escaping (PKPaymentAuthorizationResult) -> Void) {
        // Fetch the order details from your service
        MyAPIClient.shared.fetchOrderDetails(orderID: myOrderID) { myOrderDetails
            authorizationResult.orderDetails = PKPaymentOrderDetails(
                orderTypeIdentifier: myOrderDetails.orderTypeIdentifier, // "com.myapp.order"
                orderIdentifier: myOrderDetails.orderIdentifier, // "ABC123-AAAA-1111"
                webServiceURL: myOrderDetails.webServiceURL, // "https://my-backend.example.com/apple-order-tracking-backend"
                authenticationToken: myOrderDetails.authenticationToken) // "abc123"
            // Call the handler block on the main queue with your modified PKPaymentAuthorizationResult
            handler(authorizationResult)
        }
    }
}

Testing Apple Pay

Stripe test card information can’t be saved to Wallet in iOS. Instead, Stripe recognizes when you’re using your test API keys and returns a successful test card token for you to use. This allows you to make test payments using a live card without it being charged.

Apple Pay

Using Stripe and Apple Pay versus in-app purchases

Accept Apple Pay

Set up StripeServer-sideClient-side

Server-side

Client-side

Note

Note

Register for an Apple Merchant ID

Create a new Apple Pay certificate

Integrate with Xcode

Check if Apple Pay is supported

Note

Create the payment request

Note

Present the payment sheet

Submit the payment to Stripe

Server-side

Client-side

Troubleshooting

App Clips

Note

Migrating from STPApplePayContext

Recurring payments

Order tracking

Testing Apple Pay

See also

Set up Stripe
Server-side
Client-side