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I love Apple Pay as of today. I rarely need my credit card anymore for transactions.

I caught myself without the ability to buy gas. Shell gas stations in the SF Bay Area have NFC readers but I’ve never found one that works at all.

I was near empty of gas, pulled into a Shell hoping it worked with Apple Pay. Waved the iPhone over the reader, “Card not supported.” Realized also I had left my physical wallet at home.

I literally maybe need my physical card once every two weeks when running errands. Everything else is Apple Pay.

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Okay, maybe you can explain it to me, because I never quite got the appeal.

Even if you want to use Apple Pay 100% of the time, don't you have to carry a wallet for your driver's license at least? What's the big benefit for not putting a card, or worst case, a $20 note, in said wallet, for emergencies or even "Oh cool! A yard sale!" moments?

It feels like we're still a few years off from "everything on your phone" at least in the US.

I live in Australia, where most large banks support Apple Pay and all payment terminals support it too. That's probably a result of the Aussie market's love of contactless - for normal shopping, practically nobody swipes a card anymore when you can just tap and go.

Apple Pay takes that a step further and I can now tap and go from my phone. It's incredibly convenient because I know it's supported everywhere with a payment terminal. And I do have a wallet, with my driver's license, my card, my public transport card and a few notes in it - it just stays in the glovebox of my car if I'm getting groceries or going shopping somewhere. That way I don't have to worry about losing it or having it stolen. Plus, for doing everyday things, I don't really feel like I have a need to keep ID on me at all times - and if I do, I just bring my license.

I'm wondering how soon we'll see driving licenses and other official IDs stored on the phone. A few years sounds optimistic.

Singapore has introduced digital driving licences [1] and national identity cards [2], but retrieving the information requires internet access and cannot be cached in-app due to government security policies [3].

[1] https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/motorists-can-still-r...

[2] https://www.singpass.gov.sg/singpass/common/shownric

[3] As told to me by someone working on the project

Very interesting, thanks

We've had this for about a year in NSW, Australia. Alongside the fact that all the payment terminals here support contactless payments, this means that i do not need to carry my wallet, ever.

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