Apple Pay: Drop In Guide

Let customers securely make payments using Apple Pay on your website or mobile application.

Before you begin

This guide assumes that you know how to

• Show Drop-in Checkout

Accept payments with Apple Pay

Prepare the client session

Apple Pay leverages the following parameters to process a payment.

Pass them when creating the client session.

Parameter Name	Required	Description
currencyCode	✓	3-letter currency code in ISO 4217 format, e.g. USD for US dollars
order ↳ lineItems	✓	Details of the line items of the order
order ↳ countryCode	✓	The merchant’s country (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2) — where the transaction is processed, not the buyer’s country
paymentMethod ↳ options ↳ APPLE_PAY ↳ merchantName		For payments using the Apple Pay payment method, use this field to override the default merchant name for the Primer account from showing on the Apple Pay flow. For example, if your merchant name on your account is “Company X” but you want to display a specific store name on the Apple Pay flow, you can set the merchantName to “Store name A”.
paymentMethod ↳ options ↳ APPLE_PAY ↳ recurringPaymentRequest		Required for recurring payments. Include to specify that the payment is a recurring payment, typically for subscriptions.
paymentMethod ↳ options ↳ APPLE_PAY ↳ deferredPaymentRequest		Required for deferred payments. Include to specify that payment will be charged at a future date, such as hotel bookings or pre-orders.
paymentMethod ↳ options ↳ APPLE_PAY ↳ automaticReloadRequest		Required for automatic reload payments. Include to enable automatic top-ups when account balance falls below a threshold, such as transit cards or loyalty programs.

order.countryCode maps to Apple Pay’s PKPaymentRequest.countryCode: “the two-letter ISO 3166 code for the country or region of the merchant’s principle place of business.”

Apple Pay MPAN Configuration

Apple Pay Merchant Tokens (MPANs) provide better payment continuity across devices compared to Device Primary Account Numbers (DPANs). Primer enables you to request MPANs from Apple Pay according to Apple’s guidelines, though Apple Pay may still return DPANs if the issuer doesn’t support MPAN generation.

For stored payment methods (vaultOnSuccess: true):

Use the appropriate MPAN request configuration based on your payment use case.

firstPaymentReason	MPAN Request Type	Use Cases	Required
Recurring	Recurring Payments	Subscriptions, memberships, scheduled billing	recurringPaymentRequest
Unscheduled	Deferred Payments	Buy-now-pay-later, layaway, delayed billing	deferredPaymentRequest
Unscheduled	Automatic Reload	Wallet top-ups, account reloads	automaticReloadRequest

⚠️ Important Note on Apple Pay MPAN Generation in Sandbox

The Apple Pay sandbox environment is strictly limited to DPAN-based payment testing. Merchant tokens (MPANs) are not generated or tested in sandbox. It supports basic provisioning and transaction flows only. For payment scenarios involving MPAN (e.g., recurring payments, deferred charges and automatic reloads), you must test in a production environment with a valid Apple Pay wallet and a merchant token-enabled issuer/network.

For one-time payments (vaultOnSuccess: false):

• Standard Apple Pay flow is used
• No MPAN request configuration needed since tokens aren’t stored

For detailed configuration examples and parameter references, see the Apple Pay API reference.

Prepare the SDK for payments

Web

Show Universal Checkout
Apple Pay is automatically presented to the customer when calling Primer.showUniversalCheckout.

Typescript

try {
  await Primer.showUniversalCheckout(clientToken, {
    container: '#checkout-container',
    options,
    onCheckoutComplete({ payment }) {
      console.log('Checkout complete.', payment)
    },
  })
} catch (e) {
  // handle error
}

Customization
Check the Customization Guide to learn how to customize payment method buttons.

Additionally, you can style the Apple Pay button by passing the following options:

Typescript

const options = {
    /* Other options... */
    applePay: {
        buttonType: 'plain', // 'plain' (default) | 'buy' | 'set-up' | 'donate' | 'check-out' | 'book' | 'subscribe'
        buttonStyle: 'black', // 'black' (default) | 'white' | 'white-outline',
    }
}

Capture billing address

By default, Apple Pay does not capture the user’s billing address.

You can ask to capture the billing address by setting the option captureBillingAddress. The billing address is added to the client session before the payment is made.

Typescript

const options = {
    /* Other options... */
    applePay: {
        captureBillingAddress: true,
    }
}

Limitations

• Apple Pay is only supported on Apple Devices and Safari Browser. For more info take a look at the Apple support page.
• Until iOS 16, Apple Pay does not appear on in-app webviews.
• Apple Pay only appears if the website is using HTTPS.
• Our current implementation of Apple Pay does not support the card networks mir, girocard, bancomat, and bancontact.

Troubleshooting

Apple Pay button is not presented

If the Apple Pay button is not presented, check that:

• The browser is Safari
• The website is using HTTPS
• The domain has been registered in the Dashboard
• The order details and country code have been passed to the client session

iOS

Pre-requisites

1. Select the Signing and Capabilities tab in your target’s settings.

2. Tap the + Capability button on the top left, and select Apple Pay from the list.

3. When added, add your merchant identifier (the one that was added on Apple Developer Portal when creating the Apple Pay certificate).

4. Construct your PrimerApplePayOptions with your merchantIdentifier and the merchantName, and set it as your settings.paymentMethodOptions.applePayOptions.

SWIFT

let settings: PrimerSettings = {
    // ...
    paymentMethodOptions: {
        // ...
        // 👇 Add your Apple Pay options
        applePayOptions: {
            merchantIdentifier: "merchant.checkout.team",
            merchantName: "Merchant Name"
        }
    }
    // ...
};
await Primer.configure(settings);

Restrict card types

Support for restricting card types is included in SDK versions 2.51.0+.

By default, Apple Pay offers all supported card types. You can restrict which card types are offered by setting allowedCardTypes to any combination of .credit and .debit.

SWIFT

let settings = PrimerSettings(
    paymentMethodOptions: PrimerPaymentMethodOptions(
        applePayOptions: PrimerApplePayOptions(
            merchantIdentifier: "merchant.checkout.team",
            merchantName: "Merchant Name",
            allowedCardTypes: [.debit]
        )
    )
)

Show Universal Checkout

Apple Pay is automatically presented to the customer when calling Primer.showUniversalCheckout.

SWIFT

const CheckoutScreen = async (props: any) => {
  const onUniversalCheckoutButtonTapped = async () => {
    try {
      await Primer.showUniversalCheckout(clientToken)
    } catch (err) {
      // handle error
    }
  }
}

Customization
Check the customization guide to learn how to customize Universal Checkout.

Limitations
Apple Pay is not compatible with Android. The payment method button will not be presented.

• When used in the simulator, Apple Pay appears but fails to complete the flow. This is due to a limitation of Apple Pay that does not return the correct data when used in the simulator.
• Our current implementation of Apple Pay does not support the card networks mir, girocard, bancomat, and bancontact.

Troubleshooting
Error Returned: [unable-to-make-payments-on-provided-networks]

• Make sure you have enabled the Apple Pay capability in Xcode

• Ensure your Apple Pay wallet contains at least one valid credit/debit card.
• The card network (e.g. Visa) of the active card is not supported. Payment networks supported vary on iOS version. Also not all test cards work on development environment.
• Your device has restrictions enabled (e.g. parental controls).
• The hardware of your device doesn’t support Apple Pay.
• Make sure you are not using a jailbroken device.

⭐ How to recover?

• Try on a different (real) device.
• Try with a different card (and also set it as the default wallet card).

System Error Displayed: Apple Pay Is Not Available in “APP NAME”

The merchant identifier(s) configured in Xcode do not match the merchant identifiers of the Apple Pay certificates in your Apple Developer portal.

⭐ How to recover?

Make sure that you have the correct merchant identifier selected in Xcode, as shown in the screenshot below.

A correct merchant identifier must satisfy the following conditions:

• Is present in your Xcode’s merchant identifiers in the Apple Pay capability.
• Is used by a valid Apple Pay certificate in your Apple Portal
• The above mentioned Apple Pay certificate is uploaded in Primer’s dashboard Error Returned: [server-error] Server error [404]: No Matching ProcessingCertificate could be found

Even though you are using the correct entitlements in your Xcode project, and there is a valid Apple Pay certificate in your Apple Developer portal, the Apple Pay certificate used by the app does not match the Apple Pay certificate that has been uploaded in your dashboard.

⭐ How to recover?

Upload the correct Apple Pay certificate on Primer’s dashboard.

Error Returned: [payment-cancelled] Payment method APPLE_PAY cancelled or Behaviour: Apple Pay view getting dismissed or not being presented.

The merchant identifier that you’re passing to Primer SDK is not correct, and it isn’t present in Xcode’s capabilities, or you haven’t provided a merchant name.

⭐ How to recover?

Make sure that you have the correct merchant identifier selected in Xcode.

A correct merchant identifier must satisfy the following conditions:

• Is present in your Xcode’s merchant identifiers in the Apple Pay capability.
• Is used by a valid Apple Pay certificate in your Apple Portal
• The above mentioned Apple Pay certificate is uploaded in Primer’s dashboard

Error Returned: [NSErrorDomain:4864] the data couldn't be read because it is not in the correct format

Apple Pay will not work on the simulator, it will arrive to the Apple Pay modal view, then fail with the above error when trying to pay. Try it on a real device with Apple Pay enabled.

⭐ How to recover?

Attempt to complete a payment on a real device.

React Native

Pre-requisites

1. Select the Signing and Capabilities tab in your target’s settings.

2. Tap the + Capability button on the top left, and select Apple Pay from the list.

3. When added, add your merchant identifier (the one that was added on Apple Developer Portal when creating the Apple Pay certificate).

4. Construct your PrimerApplePayOptions with your merchantIdentifier and the merchantName, and set it as your settings.paymentMethodOptions.applePayOptions.

TypeScript

let settings: PrimerSettings = {
    // ...
    paymentMethodOptions: {
        // ...
        // 👇 Add your Apple Pay options
        applePayOptions: {
            merchantIdentifier: "merchant.checkout.team",
            merchantName: "Merchant Name"
        }
    }
    // ...
};
await Primer.configure(settings);

Restrict card types

Support for restricting card types is included in SDK versions 2.46.0+.

By default, Apple Pay offers all supported card types. You can restrict which card types are offered by setting allowedCardTypes to any combination of credit and debit.

TypeScript

let settings: PrimerSettings = {
    paymentMethodOptions: {
        applePayOptions: {
            merchantIdentifier: "merchant.checkout.team",
            merchantName: "Merchant Name",
            allowedCardTypes: ["debit"]
        }
    }
};

Show Universal Checkout

Apple Pay is automatically presented to the customer when calling Primer.showUniversalCheckout.

Typescript

const CheckoutScreen = async (props: any) => {
  const onUniversalCheckoutButtonTapped = async () => {
    try {
      await Primer.showUniversalCheckout(clientToken)
    } catch (err) {
      // handle error
    }
  }
}

Customization
Check the customization guide to learn how to customize Universal Checkout.

Limitations

• Apple Pay is not compatible with Android. The payment method button will not be presented.
• When used in the simulator, Apple Pay appears but fails to complete the flow. This is due to a limitation of Apple Pay that does not return the correct data when used in the simulator.
• Our current implementation of Apple Pay does not support the card networks mir, girocard, bancomat, and bancontact.

Test

Check out Apple Pay’s Sandbox Testing guide to make payments with Apple Pay on sandbox.

Go live

You don’t need to do anything particular to go live — just make sure to use production credentials.