For efficient iOS development in India, integrating a payment gateway into your mobile app becomes crucial to facilitate online product sales. However, it's vital to ensure a seamless user experience by avoiding complex procedures and optimizing the app's loading time. A user-friendly and quick checkout process will increase the likelihood of customers completing their purchases, leading to higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

Apple Pay is one of the most powerful payment wallets for iOS apps that makes the online buying experience seamless, faster, and efficient. Continue reading to know more about iOS application development services and the steps of integrating Apple Pay & its benefits.

Steps to Integrate Apple Play Into iOS

There are too many advantages to using Apple Pay as a service in the iOS app. For a successful Apple Pay integration, Swift is one of the perfect languages you must opt for. Here are the complete steps:

Step 1: Make a merchant ID

To make a Merchant ID, you have to create an App ID. So, go to developer.apple.com & sign in to the developer account. Now, select the “Certificates, Identifiers, & Profiles” option. After that, navigate to the Identifier section and select App ID. Don't forget to examine the Apple Pay checkbox. Now, click the Continue button & submit to finish the App ID-making steps.

Now, in the upper right portion, select Merchant ID and click the ‘+' icon. Then, you will find a window on your screen where you have to enter your Merchant ID details. Finally, create a Bundle ID starting with the word ‘Merchant'.

Step 2: Set up apple pay capabilities in Xcode

Once you have made your Merchant ID, you need to open your project in the Xcode & select Capabilities. Now turn Apple Pay on & add your Merchant ID and refresh the page. Once you have done it, on the developer portal, a Merchant ID list will be visible. In this step, you have to make sure that the Team Box is showing the right time & all checkboxes are ticked.

Step 3: Make a sandbox user in iTunes connect

You're almost in the middle stage of the Apple Pay implementation process. After completing the above steps successfully, you need to make a Gmail account. For this, go to itunesconnect.apple.com & select the “Users and Roles” option. Now click the Sandbox Testers and click the “+” icon. From the country lists, you need to select one by checking the availability of Apple Pay. Once you have done so, your Gmail account will be created through the Apple ID.

Step 4: Add a test card

In this step, you have to modify your iPhone region. All you need to do is logout from the current iCloud account & login with the sandbox user details. Now, you have to add a test card, for instance:

  • Funding Primary Account Number or FPAN: 1234 5678 8765 4321
  • Expiry Date: 09/2022
  • CVC: 123

Step 5: Create a payment request

Next, you have to make a proper payment request for the project. For this, you can add any kind of button from a storyboard to a ViewController. After that, you need to connect IBAction with ViewController.swift. For effectively using Apple Pay, properly add Import PassKit to the ViewController. Once you have inserted it, set up a payment request for the purchaseItem.

@IBAction func purchaseItem(_ sender: Any) {

let request = PKPaymentRequest()

request.merchantIdentifier = “merchant.net.mobindustry.likeMe”

request.supportedNetworks = [PKPaymentNetwork.visa, PKPaymentNetwork.masterCard, PKPaymentNetwork.amex]

request.merchantCapabilities = PKMerchantCapability.capability3DS

request.countryCode = “US”

request.currencyCode = “USD”

request.paymentSummaryItems = [

PKPaymentSummaryItem(label: “Some Product”, amount: 9.99)

]

let applePayController = PKPaymentAuthorizationViewController(paymentRequest: request)

self.present(applePayController!, animated: true, completion: nil)

}

Step 6: Manage the output

You have to insert “applePayController?.delegate = self” to purchaseItem(). Now, you have to create the following extension:

extension PaymentViewController:

PKPaymentAuthorizationViewControllerDelegate{

func paymentAuthorizationViewControllerDidFinish(_ controller: PKPaymentAuthorizationViewController) {

controller.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)

}

func paymentAuthorizationViewController(_ controller: PKPaymentAuthorizationViewController, didAuthorizePayment payment: PKPayment, handler completion: @escaping (PKPaymentAuthorizationResult) -> Void) {

completion(PKPaymentAuthorizationResult(status: PKPaymentAuthorizationStatus.success, errors: []))

}

}

Once done, you need to check whether the process of implementing Apple Pay is successful or not. For this, you can make a payment through a payment request with any payment method like Visa, MasterCard, Stripe, etc.

To finish this payment, use “completion(PKPaymentAuthorizationResult(status: PKPaymentAuthorizationStatus.success, errors: []))” into the didAuthorizePayment method.

The Necessity for Securing Payment Gateway in iOS Application

Your application should meet certain performance and design benchmarks. It must have an appropriate security measure if the application deals with any sensitive user data and financial transactions. It's essential to add a payment gateway in an iOS application securely for ensuring the approval of the application on the App Store and the client's safety. In short, integrating a secure payment gateway offers competitive advantages. It makes a link between the customers and the bank and reduces the hassles related to transaction security, safe data storage, & fraud detection.

Key Features of Apple Pay

Apple Pay is a widely popular digital wallet launched by Apple Inc. to deliver a straightforward, reliable, and secure method of developing payments in iOS, iPadOS watchOS, & web applications on Safari. Apple Pay allows merchants to manage their web applications on the iOS platform. Moreover, it helps to enhance your customer conversions, boosts user adoption & delivers ample benefits to smooth your business operation. Key features of integrating Apple Play into iOS include:

Defaulting: As a default payment option, Apple Pay allows merchants to reduce the risk of cart abandonment and reduce customer frustration which results in high conversions.

Inline configuration: Apple Pay always supports inline configuration that allows users who do not have any card details in the Apple Pay account.

Data security: Apple Pay is extremely secure in comparison to traditional credit and debit cards. All transactions through Apple Pay require TouchID, FaceID, or a user passcode. In addition, with Apple Pay, you never get the customer's card details. Hence there is no risk of managing the sensitive banking details of your customers.

Apple Pay Adoption Stats

Though e-commerce websites bring new-age online shopping solutions, m-commerce starts leading to an enhanced shopping experience. According to the report, approx 73% of retail e-commerce is predicted to be generated through m-commerce. It makes the online shopping experience quicker, more flexible, and more accessible. Paying through smartphones is transforming customer spending habits & enhancing the frequency of their product purchases. So, integrating payment processes in iOS apps is extremely important. According to statistics, Apple Pay ranks 3rd in the mobile payment users by application with 507 users. Moreover, Apple Pay is supported in 74 countries globally, whereas Google Pay is only used in 40 countries.

Benefits of Apple Pay Integration

In online shopping, consumers use their iOS smartphones. Paying through smartphones is one of the buzzing trends that is a major reason consumers want to make the entire process efficient and simple. Here are some key benefits of Apple Pay integration:

  • Steadier and quicker cash flow: As compared to other conventional payment processes, Apple Pay is one of the faster payment modes of transferring funds to a merchant account from a user. It helps to keep a proper cash flow.
  • Reaching new audiences: Apple Pay has a massive user database. When merchants integrate Apple Pay as a payment method into the app, they can easily target a large base of mobile-preferred customers.
  • Attract the audience: The gen-Z generation always prefers a mobile-first experience & it's convenient making payments through mobile instead of using cash or credit/debit cards. Offering payment flexibility encourages them to use your app for making more purchases.
  • Ideal for startups: Apple Pay utilizes its tap-to-pay technology through built-in NFC chips in Apple devices and iPhones. It allows merchants to accept all payments through Apple Pay or other credit/debit card options without using external hardware.
  • One tap payments: Apple Pay offers a faster payment process. You do not have to enter personal data or card details manually. Hence a user can easily approve transactions with just a single tap which reduces the risk of cart abandonment and enhances the customer experience.
  • Improved security: Issues like credit card fraud, data breaches, & identity theft are rapidly increasing, raising major security concerns for customers. Apple always keeps security for their products. No doubt, Apple Pay is also designed & developed with privacy-first approaches. It also has appropriate measures to protect financial information and user transaction details. Apple Pay uses several methods of advanced authentication such as fingerprint readers, face identification & biometrics to enhance the process of authentication.

Final Words

Apple Pay was a slowly climbing payment wallet and it has become one of the most trusted payment services worldwide. Apple Pay offers the most secure and straightforward way of making payments in watchOS, iPad OS, iOS & web apps. It allows the merchants to boost their customer conversions, maximize the rate of new user adoption & manage their overall business operation. If you would like to stay very relevant & also secure your online business, integrating Apple Pay into your iOS application can be the best option. For more info, feel free to connect with Sphinx Solutions.