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Comment by mrosett | Hacker News Reader

I thought Apple pay was really dumb... and then I started using it. Especially with an Apple Watch: when I get to checkout, I can fumble with my wallet, dig out a card, wait ten seconds for the chip to read, and then put the card away.... or I can tap a button on my watch twice and wave it near the reader. Done.

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Contactless phone payments work great, but I find contactless watch payments to be really physically awkward, for a number of reasons. First, the watch is worn on the wrong side of the hand for conveniently accessing the contactless reader. Second, the contactless reader is itself usually on a counter below requiring me to stoop over to make my wrist reach it. The extra 1 foot of reach you get with a phone is very helpful in this situation.

Third, I like seeing the visual feedback confirming on the screen of the payment device, which you can't do with a watch held with it's face to the reader. Sure, it vibrates, but that isn't a great indicator of success IMO.

Agreed, I use Apple Pay semi-frequently, but in my experience the ergonomics taken a step back since I upgraded my iPhone. I went from pulling my phone out of my pocket with my thumb already on Touch ID > hold near reader > paid to pulling my phone out > hold near reader > phone says get face closer > double tapping the lock screen button which is kind of out of the way on my iPhone 11, and I've locked the screen inadvertently, likely due to the case slowing me down when pressing at times. Not the worst, but not an improvement in my opinion.

pulling my phone out > hold near reader > phone says get face closer > double tapping the lock screen button which is kind of out of the way on my iPhone 11

You're doing it wrong.

Pull phone out → double-click wallet button → Authenticate face → Hold next to reader → done.

Fair point, however, it is worth pointing out I upgraded from a Touch ID phone, where one simply places the phone close to the reader and applied the same behavior to a Face ID phone. I don't believe I'm alone in this learned behavior, and blaming the user for "doing it wrong" is not a sign of great UX.

Anyway, thanks for the tip (being sincere here).

My personal phone is FaceID. My work phone is TouchID. I always pick the wrong method when I need to use it.

Apple should really provide a tip when you have done it the wrong way multiple times. I too didn’t know that was a better sequence.

As much as I miss having printed manuals, every phone has a leaflet with a link to download the manual. It's in there.

It's also online:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201239#stores

The phone tells you the sequence every time. You double-press the button, it shows the FaceID prompt. You authenticate with FaceID, it tells you to hold it near the reader.

Yeah, but it doesn't tell you the sequence all at once. So you don't know that it's going to tell you to hold near reader, but you know that it needs to be held there, so you try to hold it there while you authenticate, which is at the wrong angle for auth, so it fails, so you click the button again, which this time turns the screen off...

This is another use case where I prefer Touch ID, as the act of double-clicking the home button to summon Apple Pay also takes care of the auth.

Your flow misses a critical point. You can have a long pause after FaceID, but before tapping. This means that you can, say, authenticate while the grocer is ringing up each item, sit there until they finish, and only then tap.

Pull phone out → double-click wallet button → Authenticate face → Pause for a long time → Hold next to reader → done.

On my Pixel 2: Pull phone out, putting on finger on the fingerprint reader while holding it > tap on terminal. It's just all one motion. Super convenient.

It's nice when traveling with an Apple Watch outside the US. I can do transactions without the whole "sigh, I need to find a pen so this American can sign a receipt." (There's a fairly low limit to Apple Pay transactions for US accounts in some places but it's still nice to pick up a few items in a grocery store.)

I forgot to pack my traveling cards on a trip once and found myself on the Navajo Nation without any plastic.

Apple Pay on my Apple Watch saved my bacon. Hotel, restaurant, gift shop, trading post... every place that takes plastic there take Apple Pay.

I think the reason is that because of limited connectivity, they're a little late to the credit card game, so all of their terminals and processes are the new tech. There's no legacy gear or processes to upgrade from.

Which is similar for the whole credit card arena in general. People keep posting on here about America being backwards when it comes to credit cards and in the "civilized world" (Is there a more condescending Eurotrash phrase than that?) the banking system is more advanced. The fact is that America has had mass deployment of credit cards for far longer than other nations, so naturally it will take longer to upgrade. Greenfields are always easier to build on.

When I first got the chip it was like 30 seconds to auth. Now it's about 1-3 seconds, basically put it in, beep, pull it out. Like a less-likely-to-fail swipe.

I primarily use my card for purchases at retail locations, but a few times I've forgotten my wallet, and Apple Pay on my phone has saved me.

Can people use your wrist to buy themselves drinks once you've passed out ?

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