Walmart and Sam’s Club will begin accepting tap-to-pay payments starting August 24th, bringing Apple Pay and Google Pay to the retail giant’s U.S. locations. The move ends a long holdout for Walmart, which had been one of the last major American retailers to reject NFC-based mobile wallets. The change affects shoppers who previously had to rely on Walmart’s proprietary QR-code system, Walmart Pay, or physical cards at checkout.
Walmart had repeatedly defended its position against Apple Pay and Google Pay, even backing the failed CurrentC mobile payment service before launching Walmart Pay in 2016. As recently as last year, a Walmart spokesperson told MacRumors that the company offered “convenient solutions” like Walmart Pay, implying no shift was imminent. That stance has now reversed, with the company citing customer choice as the reason for the update.
In its announcement, Walmart said it wants customers and members to have options in how they pay, so they can check out in the way that works best for them. The company described tap-to-pay as a great addition to existing methods such as cash, credit cards, and Walmart Pay. The rollout covers both Walmart stores and Sam’s Club warehouse locations, according to the announcement.
The launch arrives years after most other major U.S. retailers adopted Apple Pay and Google Pay, making Walmart an outlier in the mobile payments landscape. Walmart Pay, introduced in 2016, required users to scan a QR code at the register, a system that differed from the contactless standard used by most competitors. The new support for tap-to-pay aligns Walmart with the wider industry norm for smartphone-based checkout.
The company did not specify whether the tap-to-pay feature would work with all NFC-enabled cards or only mobile wallets, nor did it detail any rollout timeline beyond the August 24th start date. The announcement also did not mention any changes to Walmart Pay, suggesting the existing QR-code option will remain available. For U.S. consumers, the update removes a common friction point when shopping at Walmart or Sam’s Club, as they will no longer need to open a separate app to pay with their phones.
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