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You can now activate Discover cards with Apple Pay

When Apple Pay launched nearly a year ago in the United States, Discover cards were notably unsupported as the issuer wasn’t among launch partners Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. That changes today as Discover has officially signed on to support Apple’s mobile payment service.

Several 9to5Mac readers have reported that Discover cards can now be activated this morning ahead of iOS 9’s release later today. As its late to the party, Discover is giving its card member’s an added incentive to use Apple Pay: 10% cashback on in-store purchases up to $10,000 through the rest of the year.

[tweet https://twitter.com/bfbehrenshausen/status/644210525967134720 align=’center’]

Apple Pay is supported on iPhone 6 or later, Apple Watch, iPad mini 3 or later, and iPad Air 2 and iPad Pro. Let us know in the comments how Discover and Apple Pay is working for you!

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Comments

  1. adisor19 - 9 years ago

    And still no expansion to Canada..

  2. Michael (@dukejl) - 9 years ago

    For some reason the setup process takes a long time for both the iPhone and Apple Watch! My advice is to just let it continue on until you get to the verification screen … it worked for me on both devices after a bit.

  3. Jerry Glonek (@jglonek) - 9 years ago

    Does not currently work. At least not for a Discover It card.

  4. Craig Seeman - 9 years ago

    I still get the message that the issuer is not supported for Discover Card. 11am Eastern USA.

  5. bunim1 - 9 years ago

    My New York Rangers Discover card still doesn’t work !

  6. I have tried 30 minutes ago, 15 minutes ago, and now (9/16/15 11:20AM EST). Still says “Your Issuer Does Not Yet Offer Support for This Card”.

  7. Andy Blanchard - 9 years ago

    Mine is still saying it’s not supported, as well…must be gradually rolling out…

  8. Drew Gary - 9 years ago

    Still showing issuer not supported as of 11:35am (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).

  9. lu mangoy (@lumangoy) - 9 years ago

    do we need to upgrade to iOS9 to add discover?

  10. wedosodavid - 9 years ago

    It works right now. Looking forward the 10% cash back when I use the apple pay in store.

  11. steveome - 9 years ago

    Still not working for me. 10:45 am Mountain Time. :(

  12. Drew Gary - 9 years ago

    I did a little more research. You do have to be running IOS 9 to use a discover card. IOS 9 is released today, but depending on where you live It will be released at different times. For example where I am, IOS 9 is scheduled to be pushed out at 1:00pm. NDTV Gadgets has a list of these times if you are as anxious as I was. Keep in mind they are estimates.

  13. Russ lisi (@Russ2221) - 9 years ago

    This is so cool! I use discover all the time, so convenient. I have an exclusive link, become a Discover cardmember and you’ll get $50 Cashback Bonus with your 1st purchase within 3 mos. bit.ly/1OwqG5m ..just follow through the link and on top of the 10% you would be getting you will get 50$ just for signing up and making one purchase. I love it! Also make sure you install iOS 9 that way you’ll have no problem adding the card to the phone ;)

  14. Hum….As of 1:07PM EST, I still can’t add my Discover card, but I can do iOS9……Maybe like Drew Gary said that it needs to be updated, but that would be strange….still going to wait it out……I don’t want to update my phone during the day at work.

  15. Curt Davis - 9 years ago

    I can’t get my Pittsburgh Penguins Discover IT card to work. I have IOS 9.1 and it is still not working:(

  16. Macrumors confirms what Drew Gary said. They write “According to Discover’s Apple Pay press release, Discover members who want to use their cards with the service will need to update to Apple’s latest operating system, iOS 9, and then add their cards to the newly renamed Wallet app (formerly Passbook). From there, adding a card to Apple Pay is as simple as scanning it in and verifying it, as seen in our how to on using Apple Pay.”

    Dilemmas, Dilemmas, Dilemmas on upgrading now……..

  17. Craig Seeman - 9 years ago

    Updated to iOS9 now available and now able to add Discover 1:40PM EDT

  18. Decided to upgrade to iOS9. Added my Discover card after the upgrade at 3:30PM-ish EST.

  19. Naga Yakkati - 9 years ago

    Updated IOS9 and added discover, Worked for me!!!! :-)

  20. I can add it to my wife’s iPhone 6 after upgrading to iOS9, but I can’t add it to my apple watch until a “software update” (presumably watchOS 2) Boo!

  21. I tried to add the card last night (9/17) and it failed. Just tried about 15 minutes ago – 8:15am ET, 9/18 and I get the same error message. “Card Not Supported.” No idea, it’s the only card I use and that 10% would be nice.

  22. Kiernan Reynolds - 9 years ago

    Septeember 21st, cant add discover it card to apple watch. Says “card could not be added”. Using iOS9 and WatchOS2

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.