NFC Apple Pay not working on iOS 26

You’ve had Apple do remote diagnostics on your iPhone? If so, what did it show?

Have you tried it at more than one merchant?

iOS 26.0.1 was released today. You might try updating your device.

Apple made some fundamental changes to NFC functionality and developers maybe slow to update their software and hardware to be compatible with changes.

Apple did some updates with the recently released iOS 26.0.1, so make sure your devices are updated.

Contact you bank’s support team and have them confirm the provisioning of the card and the status of the token associated with the card.

Una volta fatto l’aggiornamento ad ios 26.0.1 ho riscontrato lo stesso problema

I am having the same issue - with retail Apple Pay via POS readers, and at EV charging stations. HOWEVER, I have no trouble using the NYC Transit system's OMNY-enabled turnstiles. So it doesn't seem to be NFC-related, since the turnstiles also use NFC.

Are you double clicking the Side Button (power button) to activate Apple Pay and authenticate you? If you’re just holding the device near the transaction terminal, it may not activate.

Btw I am having the same issue as you. It's not even a bank card(Visa or Mastercard)

I tried it with a transit card and it's a simple to check the balance of the transit card. Which work just fine before on IOS 18 and it's not the bank or card. Since I tested it with 3 cards, 2 banks. Does not work on Iphone. But it read just fine on my android phone. So I can confirm it's not the bank or cards

It just stuck at "Ready to scan", even when I move the card around and try to scan it again(front of the phone, back of the phone etc)

Also on top of that my car Digital Key does not work after the update, so am assuming this has something to do with the nfc as well

My watch (series 7) is at 26.0.2 and I had the same failure today. I double tap the side button and it just gives me a gray screen with no NFC activity detected by the reader. If I click the stem and select the wallet app, then select the card I want to use, it asks for a double tap of the side button to activate and then everything works as it did before. It looks to me like there were some changes made to WatchOS 26 that corrupted the "double tap the side button to activate the default card for NFC reading" process. This seems to me to be a bug that needs fixing soon.

It’s possible but unlikely. In my personal opinion it’s most likely a combination of new iOS and banks that haven’t updated their cards/tokens to be in compliance.

What country are you in? Are you traveling and physically not at your home address? Do you use a VPN? What country is your bank in?

Apple iOS and Android OS work fundamentally different in regards to NFC tags and third party tickets. Most transit cards need to be removed from the original device and then provisioned by the issuer for a new device. The cards literally are controlled and added by the issuer. Contact the transit company for instructions on adding a card from one device to another.

Digital keys for autos are much the same and will require assistance from the dealer or manufacturer.

Bank cards need to have the token removed from the old device and reprovisioned by the bank. Have you discussed this with the bank(s) and what is the status of the tokens on each device?

It’s clear to see you don’t understand the issue at all. It’s taken 18 posts and 2 days for you to tell us Safari is not working as expected. The very first reply asked you what app.

It’s been reported in the community once, several years ago by a community member, that a bank card interfered with the NFC tag reader in Safari . The member reported removing the card from Apple Wallet resolved the issue.

It’s also possible another app is disabling the feature. Please follow this path,

iPhone > Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions > App Clips > Don’t Allow > off or disabled. You can try momentarily enabling and then disabling

Since there are no other settings for NFC tags in Safari it could certainly be a bug. You’re welcome to report your bug to Apple using the link below,

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

iPhone 15 and iOS 26.0, there is no error message, the payment terminal waits for the card and after a while it times out, on the iPhone after double-clicking and facial recognition it remains on the "Hold Near Reader" message

Okay, I updated to version 26.0.1, tried several merchants, but it still doesn't work. If I use the diagnostics, it only offers phone support. I'm currently abroad, so I can't enter the correct country code. As soon as I get home, I'll contact support or go directly to the Apple Store and hope they can fix the problem.

Hi, I'm having exactly the same issue. Apple pay no response, certainly double press the right button to activate the apple pay app. But the card doesn't respond to the POS machine like before. This is not the 3rd party app but the apple pay APP. Not the bank issue as I tried two different cards. Not the NFC hardware issue as I also tried charging my cash card with other APP, NFC works. It's also not the POS machine issue, tried super market purchase, bus, vending machines, all no response from apple pay.

NFC is obviously working, but Express Pay and Apple Pay are separate. A lot of developers wanted access to the NFC API and Apple implemented fundamental changes. This seems to be effecting some applications and some fundamental processes. It’s entirely possible, it’s POS systems that need to be upgraded to be compliant with the changes. I’ll try to reach out to some of my contacts in that industry and see if they are experiencing issues with the release.