@bentossell Ben, thank you for asking! This is my nerd hobby built into an app. I have been in the payments business for a number of years. I have also been a big fan of technology, FinTech, Startups and smart devices. I also love reading patents in general and Apple patents in specific. Through this research I surmised that Apple would release an NFC payments facilitation system back in 2011 and started writing about it on Quora (https://www.quora.com/profile/Br...). Understanding how payment industry works I went about researching the adoption of NFC payment terminals. It turns out there is currently no central reporting system on the actual NFC capability at the merchant level. Especially for small and medium sized merchants. When Apple Pay was released I was shocked that the number of Apple Pay merchant location was orders of magnitude lower then the results of my research. I loved Apple Pay and NFC in general and it motivated me to find a way to get this information out. So I learned to program in Xcode this past summer and went about creating Pay Finders. I have a friend fixing my ugly noob code, but at this point is just me and 1000s of Apple Pay enthusiasts that report Apple Pay locations and rate the transaction experience. I also have many Banks, processors, ISO merchant account sales people and merchants themselves self reporting new locations. This crowd sourced method along with deep relationships in the payments industry has allowed me to build the largest Apple Pay Location map in North America. I am currently testing active notifications that alert you when you enter a store that accepts Apple Pay. I am very excited for this feature as the app will not need to be open, it will just let you know and remind you that you can pay with your iPhone or Apple Watch. I am also building a large dataset for the UK, Europe Australia, South America and China and will have versions for each region soon. Really very honored to be listed here on Product Hunt! Thank you!
@brianroemmele@bentossell Looking forward to using this in Australia! I have suggested a coffee shop that I know supports it. Every McDonalds in Australia supports Apple Pay so that would be a quick way to get a lot of places on the Map in Australia.
In Australia Apple Pay only works with American Express card, and It can't be one issued by the bank - has to be an American Express issued card. I have found that any store with a tyro card machine tends to support Apple Pay. However it really is down to the merchant, some just don't accept american express at all. A lot don't actually put the American Express contactless stickers, just have the American Express Logo. So I need to specifically ask if they support Amex Contactless. A few support American Express but have an outdated machine so doesn't support American Express contactless.
I do get a bit of a buzz out of leaving my wallet in the card, or in the office and just paying via my phone. It only works because I know the store I am going into supports Apple Pay.
Nice idea. I recently tried out Android pay and was eager to find other places where it was supported but didn't find any central way of getting that info. How'd you go about getting this info and how scalable is this?
@sarthakgrover Sarthak, Thank you for the question! I hear ya. I get this from so many people and it was one of the big motivations for me to build Pay Finders. I am learning to code Android apps and will have a version for this platform in then next month or so if all goes well. I built the core data from 1000s of Apple Pay enthusiasts that reported NFF locations through early 2014 on to today. I also have many Banks, processors, ISO merchant account sales people and merchants themselves self reporting new locations. All of these datasets are very important and all very much are product of crowd sourced wisdom. I am learning each day just how powerful this is.
Is there a way to see it in list mode? My friend just needs to know which stores\chains use apple pay, not necessarily which stores that are close to him.
@moravtchik Leo, Great question! Indeed there is a list mode, it gets far better in version 1.5 in the app review process at Apple at this moment poised for release soon... Currently in the release version out today go to the main map page and press the second icon to the top left, the paper list looking image. This will list the first 500 locations with in the range selected on the same screen at the bottom left pop up menu. If this is confusing please let me know and I will assist. I also can do a database run and get counts for any area of Zip Codes.
Makerpad
Multiplex Magazine
Makerpad
KanyeText
Multiplex Magazine
Multiplex Magazine