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Apple Pay not working on Apple Watch

This has become a problem after the latest update (watchOS 8.1). I go to pay with my watch like I have done for the past year and it immediately rejects the card. I try again using my iPhone and it works perfectly. I can't figure out why. Should I try to remove the card and pair it again?

Apple Watch SE

Posted on Nov 6, 2021 4:59 AM

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Posted on Nov 10, 2021 10:48 AM

I thought I was going crazy! I did the same thing, set up assistive touch so I can be a super nerd and control my most used watch functions with gestures and didn't like it. Shut it off and then it didn't work at all. Deleted cards off watch, then watch and phone, restarted a bunch of times and nothing worked. Then I saw your comment and re enabled everything, disabled it in the order you suggested and it fixed it immediately. Thank you!

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Nov 10, 2021 10:48 AM in response to cayenne321

I thought I was going crazy! I did the same thing, set up assistive touch so I can be a super nerd and control my most used watch functions with gestures and didn't like it. Shut it off and then it didn't work at all. Deleted cards off watch, then watch and phone, restarted a bunch of times and nothing worked. Then I saw your comment and re enabled everything, disabled it in the order you suggested and it fixed it immediately. Thank you!

Nov 7, 2021 9:10 AM in response to Community User

I was having the same issue, but these suggestions still did not fix it. Recently I had turned on AssistiveTouch in Accessibility. I had turned it off and Apple Pay was not working from the Watch, I thought due to 8.1. I turned AssistiveTouch back on then turned OFF the “Confirm With AssistiveTouch”, then turned off AssistiveTouch, and the ApplePay worked again, showing the “Hold Near Reader” when you double tap the side button.

Nov 7, 2021 8:02 AM in response to claudiotheman

Hello claudiotheman,


Welcome to Apple Support Communities! We know it's important for Apple Pay to work on your Apple Watch. We're happy to assist you with this.


Yes, you can try removing the card to see if that helps any. You can also restart both your Apple Watch and iPhone first to see if that helps. If it doesn't, let's remove the card from your Apple Watch and add it back: Set up Apple Pay on Apple Watch


If the behavior continues, can you narrow down if this only happens when paying in certain locations, stores, etc.? What's the specific error you receive on the watch?



Best Regards.

Nov 27, 2021 6:09 PM in response to claudiotheman

cayenne321 has it sorted it seems. I too followed the Assistive Touch activation/deactivation steps. This was the first time I’ve turned on Apply Pay on my new watch, and with the added step of restarting the watch it appears like it will now work, as ‘Hold Near Reader’ now displays after double tapping the side button and selecting the appropriate card.

Cheers.

Apple Pay not working on Apple Watch

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