Apple Pay Problems, Bugs: Issues for Majority of Users, Survey Shows

A recent survey showed that Apple Pay has been encountering problems at checkout counters when users make transactions. In the survey conducted by Phoenix Marketing International, thousands of Apple Pay users were contacted and about 3,000 responded.

Apple Pay debuted on the iPhone 6 and the bigger iPhone 6 Plus last year. Since then over 66 percent of people using the devices have signed up for the service.

In the survey, 68 percent of the users said they encountered problems when using Apple Pay. The most common complaint noted by 48 percent of the respondents was that the terminal used for the transaction took too long to record it.

At the same time, 42 percent of the respondents said some cashiers were not familiar with the service. Thirty-eight percent said the service just did not work properly with some transactions being posted twice. Twenty-seven percent even stated that the service did not work at all. Twenty-three percent said the service, which asks people to select a specific card, was not easy to use.

Seventy-four percent of the respondents in the survey said they used Apple Pay because they thought it would be easier compared to swiping a credit card. When it came to using the payment system, it was used in Apple stores 46 percent of the time, followed by 36 percent in McDonald's and 30 percent at Macy's.

With Apple Pay set to arrive on the Apple Watch, the survey results may put a damper on how the service is used, industry sources say.

Moreover, the Apple Pay service has also facilitated fraud as thieves using iPhones with stolen credit-card information have reportedly been able to make purchases.

Currently it is estimated that about 8 percent of all transactions made via Apple Pay are fraudulent, much higher than the 0.1 percent that occur when payments are made via traditional cards.