Apple today announced that Tap to Pay on iPhone is now available in South Africa, allowing merchants to accept contactless payments using just their iPhone and a compatible iOS app with a partner.
This feature allows businesses of any size to accept contactless credit and debit cards, Apple Pay and other digital wallets when paying. Merchants invite customers to hold their card, iPhone, Apple Watch or other digital wallet close to the merchant’s device, with payment made via NFC technology. No additional hardware or payment terminals are required.
iStore Pay and Yoco are the first payment platforms in South Africa to support this feature. The launch supports Mastercard and Visa, with American Express support coming soon.
Tap to Pay on iPhone first launched in the United States in February 2022 and has been growing ever since. A significant wave of deployments throughout 2025 brought the feature to dozens of new markets, including 18 new countries in May, five more European countries in September, and launches in Singapore and Hong Kong in December. Malaysia followed in April 2026, and Apple confirmed earlier this year that the feature had reached 50 markets worldwide.
As with all Tap to Pay transactions on iPhone, privacy is built in. Transactions are encrypted and processed through the device’s secure element, and Apple says it has no knowledge of what is being purchased or who is purchasing it. Card numbers and transaction data are not stored on the device or on Apple’s servers.
Tap to Pay on iPhone requires an iPhone XS or later running the latest version of iOS.
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