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Take a digital wallet payment

Your users can make payments with Google Pay and Apple Pay. This page tells you how to turn on digital wallet payments, test digital wallet payments, and the restrictions around digital wallets.

Users can use digital wallets with:

  • payment links
  • payments created through the GOV.UK Pay API

Users can only use Google Pay if they’re making payments in a supported browser, such as Google Chrome.

Users can only use Apple Pay if they’re making payments on a compatible Mac, iPhone, or iPad in a supported browser, such as Safari.

If your payment service provider (PSP) is Stripe, both digital wallets are turned on by default.

If your PSP is Worldpay, Apple Pay is turned on by default, but you’ll need to turn on Google Pay manually.

You can turn off Apple Pay and Google Pay in the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.

There are no additional PSP fees if your service takes digital wallet payments.

If you have turned off any card brands through the GOV.UK Pay admin tool, these card brands will also be turned off for digital wallet payments.

Turn on Apple Pay

Apple Pay is turned on by default for all GOV.UK Pay services.

If you have turned off or opted out of Apple Pay, you can still enable it through the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.

  1. Sign in to the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.
  2. Select the service where you want to turn on Apple Pay from My services.
  3. Select Settings.
  4. Under Payments, select Card payments.
  5. Change Apple Pay to On.

You do not need to ask Worldpay to turn on Apple Pay in your Worldpay account.

Turn off Apple Pay

  1. Sign in to the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.
  2. From My services, select the service where you want to turn off Apple Pay.
  3. Select Settings.
  4. Under Payments, select Card payments.
  5. Change Apple Pay to Off.

Turn on Google Pay

If your PSP is Stripe, Google Pay is turned on by default.

If your PSP is Worldpay, you’ll need to turn on Google Pay.

To turn on Google Pay on a Worldpay service, you need to get a Google Pay merchant ID from your Worldpay merchant admin interface

  1. If needed, speak to your Worldpay account manager to upgrade your Worldpay merchant admin interface to include Google Pay functionality.
  2. Sign in to your Worldpay merchant admin interface.
  3. Go to Integration and select the Pay with Google tab.
  4. Under Generate unique merchant ID, select Generate.
  5. Copy the generated merchant ID.
  6. Sign in to the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.
  7. From My Services, select the service where you want to turn on Google Pay.
  8. Select Settings.
  9. Under Payments, select Card payments.
  10. Change Google Pay to On and enter the merchant ID.

Turn off Google Pay

  1. Sign in to the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.
  2. From My services, select the service where you want to turn off Google Pay.
  3. Select Settings.
  4. Change Google Pay to Off.

Test digital wallet payments

Test Google Pay

To test Google Pay, you need a Google account and you must add a credit or debit card to that account. You can add a real credit or debit card, or use Google Pay’s test cards.

We will not take any money if you use a real credit or debit card.

To test Google Pay:

  1. In your test service, create a payment through the API or create a payment link through the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.

  2. Open Google Chrome on a desktop or Android device.

  3. Sign in to a Google account.

  4. Visit the next_url you received when you created the test payment or visit the payment link.

  5. Complete the test payment using a real card or a test card. We will not take any money if you use a real debit or credit card.

You can see the payment in the GOV.UK Pay admin tool and through the API.

Test Apple Pay

To test Apple Pay, you must set up Apple Pay on an iOS or macOS device. You can use a real credit or debit card.

We will not take any money if you add a real credit debit card to test Apple Pay.

If your organisation has an Apple developer account, you may be able to use Apple’s test cards.

To test Apple Pay:

  1. In your test service, create a payment through the API or create a payment link through the GOV.UK Pay admin tool.

  2. On an iOS device, open a browser that supports Apple Pay, such as Safari, Google Chrome, or Microsoft Edge. If you’re using a Mac, open Safari.

  3. In your chosen browser, visit the next_url you received when you created the test payment or visit the payment link.

  4. Complete the test payment using the credit or debit card you added to your Apple Wallet. We will not take any money.

Strong Customer Authentication (3D Secure)

Apple Pay needs your users to authenticate digital wallet transactions using a secure method such as a fingerprint scan. Your Apple Pay users do not need to complete a Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) method such as 3D Secure separately.

Google Pay supports, but does not need, your users to authenticate digital wallet transactions using a secure method. Your users who do not use Google Pay’s secure authentication may have to complete SCA separately.

See the GOV.UK Pay page on Apple Pay and Google Pay for more information.

Restrictions of digital wallet payments

GOV.UK Pay cannot apply corporate card surcharges to digital wallet payments made with a corporate card.

Users cannot make recurring payments with digital wallets.

Stored cardholder information in digital wallet payments

GOV.UK Pay stores different cardholder information for digital wallet payments than standard card payments. There are further differences between payments made through Apple Pay and Google Pay.

If you rely on cardholder information as part of your service, you should not collect this information through GOV.UK Pay. Cardholder information in digital wallet payments is unreliable because of how Google Pay and Apple Pay handle payment cards.

Cardholder information Stored for standard payments? Stored for Apple Pay payments? Stored for Google Pay payments?
Cardholder name Yes No Yes, but it may not match the name on the user’s card
Billing address Yes, if you turn on billing address collection No No
Card expiry date Yes Yes, but this may not match the date on the user’s card No
Card type (credit or debit) Yes Yes No
Card brand Yes Yes Yes
Last 4 digits of card number Yes Yes, but this may not match the 4 digits on the user’s card Sometimes, but the digits may not be accurate
First 6 digits of card number Yes No No
Email address Yes, if you turn on email address collection Yes, if you turn on email address collection Yes, if you turn on email address collection

The GOV.UK Pay API returns a null value for any cardholder information that we do not store for digital wallet payments.

For example:

"card_details": {
    "last_digits_card_number": "4242",
    "first_digits_card_number": null,
    "cardholder_name": null,
    "expiry_date": "10/25",
    "billing_address": null,
    "card_brand": "Mastercard",
    "card_type": "debit",
    "wallet_type": "Apple Pay"
}