You can now use Apple Pay in Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome, provided you’re bold enough to try out Apple’s betas and iOS 16 beta 4 (via The Verge.) This comes as a major change, as, outside of apps, Apple Pay checkout on iPhones with iOS 15 is currently limited to the Safari web browser.
On the latest iOS 16 beta Apple Pay works in Edge, Chrome and I assume any third party browser. On iOS 15 Apple Pay only works in Safari. pic.twitter.com/x7zV5xCuiC
— Steve Moser (@SteveMoser) July 30, 2022
This was first spotted by Steve Moser on Twitter, who is a contributing writer to MacRumors. You can see in his above Tweet that he’s using Microsoft Edge, and has a “Continue with Apple Pay” button on the Apple Store webpage. Firefox users also have a similar function on iOS, too, as pointed out on Reddit, though this was since iOS 16 beta 3.
So, what’s causing this change? Well, all of the major browsers on iOS use the Safari Webkit rendering engine, which likely was updated to pick up support for Apple Pay in third-party browsers. Apple has yet to officially respond though, and explain the change, though The Verge suggests it could be to avoid lawsuits in Europe and the U.S. This doesn’t apply to macOS, though, since desktop web browsers can use their own rendering engines.
