3 Useful Apple Pay Features You Probably Don’t Use (But Absolutely Should)

Keep in mind that using Apple Pay doesn’t just save you time. It can also help you protect your funds and financial information in various circumstances. For example, by using Apple Pay’s Tap to Pay features, you can avoid accidentally sharing your information with gas-pump card readers.

This is just one of the advantages of adopting this payment method. Just know that you’ll get even more value from Apple Pay if you become familiar with features you may not have used before.

Finding out the status of an order you placed online may involve a few steps. You may need to access your account on the retailer’s website or app, then navigate to your “Recent Orders” page to find the information you’re looking for. Or you may need to look for an order confirmation email first, then open the link or use the tracking information provided.

The process can be much simpler if you place an order with Apple Pay. All you have to do is open Apple Wallet and tap the three dots at the top of the screen representing the “More” option. From there, tap Orders. You should then see a list of eligible orders you’ve placed with Apple Pay. You can tap an order to get more details about its status. You may also have the option to press Manage order, which will take you to the merchant’s website, or you can press Email this merchant to contact the retailer.

Please be aware that factors such as your device and operating system may affect the tracking of certain orders. Sometimes Apple Pay automatically tracks orders. In other cases, an order confirmation screen will have an option to “Track with Apple Wallet.” You will need to choose this option for the order to be added to those you are tracking.

Apple Pay and Apple Wallet aren’t just useful for making payments. Apple Wallet and Apple Pay can also store important documents such as digital versions of event tickets, boarding passes, and similar documents. How you add these passes varies depending on their original source. For example, when you purchase a plane ticket through an app or website, you may see an option to add the pass to your Apple Wallet on the confirmation screen.

While you may already be familiar with this feature, there are ways to optimize it that users might overlook. For example, on an iPhone, you can go to Settings, then tap iCloud. Then you can activate Wallet. This will ensure that all passes stored in your Apple Wallet remain up to date on your devices.

Additionally, through the Settings app on iPhone, you can select either Face ID and passcode Or Touch ID and password. You will be prompted to enter your password. In doing so, below where it says “Allow access when locked,” you can activate Apple Wallet. This allows you to access passes stored in Apple Wallet even when the device is otherwise locked.

Nowadays, it’s even possible to store your car keys in Apple Wallet. Of course, not every car manufacturer offers a digital version of a key that can be stored on a mobile device. You may need to contact your car manufacturer to see if this option is available to you.

Apple Pay is convenient for many reasons. One is that, since Apple Wallet lets you store multiple cards digitally, Apple Pay lets you easily make purchases with them. You don’t need to have them on hand to use them now.

However, you may not realize that Apple Pay also (sometimes) lets you apply credit card rewards to purchases. When you’re ready to make an online purchase, open Apple Pay and select the card you want to pay with. You can see a pop-up bubble that says “Use rewards.” Tap on it, then enter the number of reward points you want to use. That said, not all retailers offer this option.

It’s also worth noting that Apple Pay and Wallet’s functionality frequently expands with new updates. Using these “hidden” features can help you take full advantage of Apple Pay right now. You just need to keep in mind that even more advanced features will likely become available in the future.