Uber Eats to roll out Apple Pay in almost 20 markets worldwide

Transportation network company Uber has apparently made it to the headlines for having declared that it plans to add Apple Pay to its Uber Eats app. Authentic reports claim that now, customers who want to use Apple Pay, can do so with the Touch ID or Face ID option in the Uber Eats app.

Incidentally, Uber has used Apple Pay previously, as a payment option for its ride-hailing app. However, this is the first time the company is using the same for its food app.

As per sources familiar with the matter, Uber’s tryst with payment apps in not new, back in 2018, the transport network company introduced Venmo as its payment option. The initiative was undertaken after the company noticed that six million payments in Venmo were marked ‘Uber’ last year. The firm also observed that Venmo was popular among people who wanted to split the cost of a ride or a meal.

Uber for the record, is also known to accept PayPal, as well as debit and credit cards.

When the company declared that it plans to integrate Apple Pay in its food app, Uber made it a point to highlight the payment service’s privacy and security features. In addition, the company emphasized on the fact that the actual card numbers are not stored in the company’s servers or on the device. First, a unique device account number is allotted and then encrypted. The number is stored on the user’s device in the secure element. Post this, each and every transaction is authorized with a unique code which is only used once.

According to a report by TechCrunch, Apple Pay will be rolled out by Uber Eats in nearly 20 markets in the forthcoming weeks. These are inclusive of UK, the United States, Switzerland, the U.A.E., France, Belgium, New Zealand, Sweden, Ireland, Canada, Japan, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Portugal, and Italy.

For the uninitiated, Apple Pay is a regular in many apps, including the likes of Instacart, Staples, Lyft, Etsy, etc.