Does Target Take Apple Pay? In Store, Self-Checkout and Online

Summary: Yes. Target accepts Apple Pay at every register and every self-checkout in its US stores, and on Target.com and in the Target app. It has done since January 2019. The one real limitation is that your Target Circle Card cannot be added to Apple Pay, so tapping your phone means giving up the Circle Card discount unless you use the wallet built into the Target app instead.

• Apple Pay works at staffed registers, at self-checkout, online and in the app. There is no part of Target where it is refused.
• You can tap at any point while the cashier is still scanning, as soon as the card reader is ready.
• Target Circle Cards cannot be loaded into Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay. The Target app wallet is the workaround.
• Afterpay, Klarna, Affirm, Sezzle, Zip and PayPal Pay in 4 all work on Target.com and in the app, but not at an in-store till.

Yes, Target Takes Apple Pay in All of Its US Stores

Target was one of the last big holdouts, which is why so many pages still get this wrong. It supported Apple Pay on Target.com for years while refusing it in stores, then reversed course: Apple announced on 22 January 2019 that Apple Pay was rolling out across all 1,850 US Target locations. That rollout finished years ago, and Target's own list of accepted payment options now names Apple Pay for stores and for online alike.

Worth knowing if you shop at both: Target and Walmart made opposite decisions here. Walmart still refuses Apple Pay and pushes its own app-based wallet instead, so the habit that works in one store fails in the other.

How to Pay With Apple Pay at a Target Register

There is nothing to set up beyond having a card in your Apple Wallet already.

• Double-click the side button on your iPhone, or the side button twice on an Apple Watch.
• Authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.
• Hold the phone or watch near the card reader until the confirmation appears on screen.
• Follow any prompt on the reader, such as approving the total.

One detail from Target's own guidance that saves time in a queue: you do not have to wait until the cashier finishes. As soon as the reader is ready for payment, you can tap, even mid-scan. Apple Watch users get the most out of this, since there is no phone to dig out at all.

How to Use Apple Pay at Target Self-Checkout

Self-checkout is the version people search for most, because the screen does not always say Apple Pay anywhere. The trick is that contactless sits behind the card option rather than being its own button.

• Scan and bag your items as normal.
• Choose to pay by card or credit on the screen. This wakes the contactless reader.
• Look for the contactless symbol next to the word Tap on the reader beside the screen.
• Hold your iPhone or Apple Watch to it and authenticate.
• Wait for the confirmation tone or on-screen receipt prompt before walking away.

Apple Pay on Target.com and in the Target App

Online, Apple Pay appears as its own checkout button rather than something you add as a saved card, which means you skip typing a card number and a billing address entirely. Face ID or Touch ID confirms the order. The same button appears in the Target app, and it works for delivery, Order Pickup and Drive Up orders, because payment is taken at checkout rather than at the kerb.

Your Target Circle Card Cannot Go in Apple Pay

This is the part worth reading twice, and almost nobody covers it. Target states plainly that Target Circle Cards, meaning the Target Debit Card, Target Credit Card, Target Mastercard and the Circle Card Reloadable Account, cannot be added to Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay. So a straight choice appears at the till: tap your phone with a third-party card and pay full price, or use the Circle Card and get its discount.

Target's answer is its own in-app wallet, which does more than Apple Pay can at their registers. One barcode on the screen applies all of the following in a single scan:

• Target Circle offers and Weekly Ad coupons.
• Target team member discounts.
• Target GiftCard payment.
• Target Circle Card payment, including the Debit Card, Credit Card and Mastercard.
• Cash withdrawal, which is Target Debit Card only.

So the honest recommendation depends on your basket. For a quick run with a rewards credit card, Apple Pay is faster. For a full shop where coupons and the Circle Card discount are in play, the Target app wallet wins on money even though it costs a few seconds.

Why the Last Four Digits on Your Receipt Look Wrong

A small thing that generates a surprising number of worried calls. When you pay with Apple Pay, the last four digits printed on your Target receipt will not match the last four digits of your actual card. That is not an error and it is not somebody else's card. Your device replaces the real card number with a device-specific token, and the token is what appears on the receipt. Target documents this behaviour itself.

Does Target Take Afterpay, Klarna or Affirm?

All of them, and more besides, but only through Target.com and the Target app. The full set of third-party instalment plans Target lists is Affirm, Sezzle, PayPal Pay in 4, Afterpay, Klarna and Zip. None of them works at a physical till, so a shop you want to split into payments has to be an online order. The same pattern shows up elsewhere: Afterpay on Amazon and Klarna on Amazon both route around the retailer rather than sitting in its checkout.

Every Other Way to Pay at Target

Target's accepted list is unusually long, and several entries are worth knowing before you get to the front of the queue:

• Google Pay, Samsung Pay and any other contactless digital wallet, in store.
• Cash App Pay and PayPal, on Target.com and in the app.
• Venmo cards are accepted in stores, but Venmo QR code payments are not. Bring the card, not the app.
• SNAP EBT works online and in stores. Cash EBT is not accepted online, SNAP cannot be combined with a split card payment, and it does not cover items sold by Target Plus partners.
• Healthcare cards including FSA, HSA and HRA, in both channels.
• Split payments across up to two credit or debit cards in one transaction, and a Target GiftCard can be part of a split.
• Foreign credit cards including JCB and Diner's Club International in stores, plus Canadian and Mexican currency at some locations, with exchange rates updated weekly.
• WIC, Alipay and Campus Cash, but only at authorised stores rather than the whole chain.

What Target Will Not Accept

The refusals are as useful as the acceptances, because a couple of them catch people out at the till:

• Personal cheques, business cheques, cashier's cheques and money orders.
• Foreign cheques, and foreign currency other than the Canadian and Mexican exceptions above.
• Other retailers' gift cards, with one exception: Starbucks gift cards work at the in-store Starbucks counter.
• Mall certificates and chamber bucks, unless a specific store has chosen to take them. Worth a phone call rather than an assumption.

What a Target Gift Card Cannot Buy

A Target GiftCard behaves like cash across almost the whole store, but there is a short exclusion list, and it exists to stop cards being laundered into other cards. You cannot use one to buy another Target GiftCard, a specialty gift card, an American Express, Visa or Mastercard gift card, an iTunes gift card, or services at an in-store Minute Clinic. You also cannot use one to pay down a Target Circle Card balance. If you are putting together a present and want something physical to hand over alongside the card, a same-day flower delivery covers the gap the card leaves.

Speed at the Register or the Circle Card Discount

Apple Pay at Target is a solved problem: it works everywhere in the shop and everywhere online, and has for years. The only decision left is whether the seconds you save tapping are worth more than the Circle Card discount you give up, and that answer changes with the size of your trolley. If you would rather load a fixed amount before you shop, or send someone else a balance to spend, buy a Target gift card and pay for it with Apple Pay in the same tap, the way this guide to buying gift cards with Apple Pay sets out.