Apple Pay on Mac is disabled

Hi,


Well, I’ve tried a lot of different things, but I just can’t activate Apple Pay on my MacBook Pro M1.

I had this problem a while back, and for some reason, it started working at one point. Then it stopped again…

In fact, I can’t even remove my cards, let alone re-add them.

When I try to add a card on the Mac, it says Apple Pay was disabled because this Mac’s security settings were changed.


It’s really frustrating. I have a keyboard with Touch ID.

All is working fine on my Apple W + iPhone.


If you have any suggestions, I’d appreciate it!

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 15.2

Posted on Jan 16, 2025 11:46 PM

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Jan 17, 2025 2:43 AM in response to Gilles

Use Wallet & Apple Pay on Mac


Excerpt from an important detail


Important: If you sign out of your Apple Account, you have to set up Apple Pay again—including any cards you added in Wallet & Apple Pay on your Mac.


If still not working, this seems more a localized issue


Start now and open an Apple Support Ticket as they are PAID  Apple Employees to deal will these types of issues . 


 Product Feedback for Sequoia - and make it known to Apple regarding this ongoing issue


Product Feedback for MacBook Pro


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Jan 17, 2025 5:44 AM in response to Gilles

Based on your description, this doesn’t sound like it may be it, but have you ever reduced the security? Change security settings on the startup disk of a Mac with Apple silicon - Apple Support

Might be worth checking.

Also not sure, but I think you must disable automatic login.

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Jan 17, 2025 4:00 AM in response to Gilles

I’m assuming you have Fingerprint ID setup and working and Two Factor Authentication is enabled. If they aren’t, that’s the first step.


The fix is to create a second admin account then start to add a credit card to the account. Go through all the steps, but don’t actually add the card. Logout of the new admin account and add one of your cards. You should receive a notification saying another user is using Apple Pay and do you want to disable the account (or something to the effect). Disable the account and proceed to enter your cards.

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Jan 17, 2025 8:26 AM in response to Gilles

This is a variation of the one I gave you. If you still have the “new” admin account, actually enter one of your cards in the new admin account Wallet settings in the Settings app. Log out of the new account.


Login to the old admin account and try to add a card. You should get a notification about there already being a Wallet in use and want to know if you want to disable it. Yes, disable the account and proceed to add your cards to Apple Wallet settings in the Settings app on your Mac.

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Jan 17, 2025 8:53 AM in response to Gilles

I don’t think it matters. iCloud sync doesn’t sync cards. It syncs limited information like recent transactions. Card details, tokens, are never synced. Card details are only stored in an encrypted form (payment token) in the Secure Element of each device. Secure Elements have their own separate OS, CPU, memory and OS (runs Java) and has no connection to iOS basically. Hacking an iPhone,Mac etc. which is really hard, does not hack the SE.

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Jan 17, 2025 9:09 AM in response to Jeff Donald

Well... you know what ?

I did all you proposed last time.


Then.... it worked ! I thought finally after hours working on this It works !


But after a while and a restart, back to... not working.

In the meanwhile I did delete the new admin account.


Don't worry, I think now it's really a pain to resolve this. Maybe one day it will come back on its own... Thanks a lot for your help !

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Jan 17, 2025 9:22 AM in response to Gilles

Huh, I’ve never had that happen before. I’d wait until after the next Mac OS update and try it again. You’re the first person to ever say that it worked and then didn’t. I’m thinking there may be two separate issues at play here. Let’s revisit this in few, month and see if we can’t finally resolve this.

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Feb 20, 2025 11:42 AM in response to Jeff Donald

Not using a VPN. But even then I could not add or remove cards.


But I found a workaround. Changing the Mac security setting within the Recovery Mode helped.

It was set on minimal security, then I changed it to full security and Apple Pay worked again. Now switched it back to minimal again and it still works. For anyone with the same issue, this could solve it.

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Feb 20, 2025 11:51 AM in response to ChopperGunnerNL

Installing the VPN may have changed the security settings. A notification will popup asking permission to do so, and it’s easy to just click OK. Deleting the VPN doesn’t reset the security settings. This results in low security affecting future usage of your Mac, such as using Apple Pay and other higher security features.

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Feb 20, 2025 12:23 PM in response to ChopperGunnerNL

Your first paragraph was confusing. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused. However, you changing it results in the same situation. Bank apps, Apple Wallet, Apple Cash and Apple Pay may not function as expected with privacy and security settings modified or turned off.


I’m glad to hear you’ve successfully resolved the issue and I thank you for sharing your experience and solution. I’m sure it’ll benefit other community members in the future.

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Apple Pay on Mac is disabled

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