Here you’ll find everything that Siri can do with Apple Pay. Learning all the ins-and-outs of what you can ask Siri is essential to getting the most out of your iPhone. For instance, did you know Siri can help you send cash to your friends? Siri can do that as well as the reverse and so much more.
See the most common questions answered in the FAQ section, or view the complete list of Siri Apple Pay commands under Keeping Up With Siri in the table of contents below.
FAQs
What is Apple Pay?
Apple Pay allows you to transfer and pay for things with using your iPhone instead of a credit card or with cash. Apple has a solid landing page for it that explains more.
How do I use Apple Pay?
To use Apple Pay, you first need to add a credit card to the Wallet App on your iPhone.
Where is Apple Pay available?
Finding a complete list of where Apple Pay is available is difficult. Apple has a decent list here, but it’s not complete as many stores are adding Apple Pay to their systems all the time. Most recently with COVID-19, Publix Supermarkets has added the ability to pay hands-free at checkout with Apple Pay.
Keeping Up With Siri
Want to learn all 366 commands you can give Siri? You’ve come to the right place. Welcome to Keeping Up With Siri. In this series, I outline Apple’s Siri Guide that has the complete list of commands and capabilities that Siri supports. This post specifically focuses on Siri Apple Pay commands.
Let’s get started.
Apple Pay Commands
Apply Pay is ranked high on Apple’s Siri Guide with holding the fifth position out of 28. This isn’t surprising considering Apple’s perspective. With the release of Apple’s Credit Card last year, Apple wants to ensure money transactions work well across all Apple devices. In a nutshell, Apple wants you to know that all of its services are integrated with Apple Pay—and Siri is no exception.
If anything, I imagine this area will expand with new commands specific to Apple Card later this year. Stay tuned.
“Hey Siri, Apple Pay $20 to Khira”
You can use Apple Pay to transfer money between your Contacts that also have Apple Pay. This feature is called Apple Cash. Khira isn’t a special name on your iPhone, rather it’s a default name and can be switched out to one of your actual Contacts.
Unless you have a contact named Khira, you won’t have much luck with this command. Instead, Siri will ask you who you want to send money to. The person needs to be in a Contact card. The benefit of this command is it simplifies the process of sending money to someone you know. However, you do need to have funds in your account in order to this feature.
“Hey Siri, ask Ming for $26 with Apple Pay”
Similar to the above command, but in reverse. You can request money from other Apple Pay users. When you use this command, the person you’re requesting cash from will get a notification that you are requesting cash on their device. You don’t need to have money in your Apple Cash account in order to receive money, luckily.
“Hey Siri, send $15 to Kim for lunch with Apple Pay”
With this command, Apple highlights the ability for you to provide a note for money transfers. I think this is really where Siri shines. With this single command, you’ll save yourself some menu clicks trying to do it manually.
“Hey Siri, where can I use Apple Pay?”
Here’s a strange and probably unnecessary command. I don’t think there are many people that look for places that specifically accept Apple Pay. Rather, you generally have somewhere you want to go and you want to see if that place accepts Apple Pay.
Perhaps this command was more useful when Apple Pay was new and didn’t have much support yet, and it was a way for Apple to show it off. Either way, when you use this command, Siri pulls up a map with three seemly random places nearby that support Apple Pay. Fair warning that the list I get isn’t particularly useful or accurate, as there are more places that support it near me that aren’t listed.
My recommendation is to skip using this command. Otherwise, take the results with a grain of salt.
“Hey Siri, show me coffee shops that take Apple Pay”
This command is a better way to search for Apple Pay support. The twist here is you can search for store types instead of just everything.
After I give this command, Siri provides a list of five coffee shops within a few miles from me. I also get Yelp reviews of these coffee shops.
This command is better than its predecessor, but still strange to me. I’d rather ask something like “does <Store X> take Apple Pay?” to make it even more useful. As it turns out, this additional command works, as well. Recently with COVID-19, Publix Supermarkets started accepting Apple Pay. If you ask “Siri, does Publix support Apple Pay?” Siri first gives me a list of P Supermarkets. After clicking on one, Siri then says: “Yes, it supports Apple Pay.”
“Hey Siri, gas stations that accept Apple Pay”
This command—while not grammatically worded the same as its predecessor—is just another example of the filter you can use to search for merchants that accept Apple Pay.
At this point, though, it’s unclear how many different filters Apple supports for Siri beyond coffee shops and gas stations. At first glance, it appears you can use any merchant or store that is shown within Apple Maps, such as retail stores, grocery and supermarkets, restaurants, fast food chains, and banks. I’m sure this list isn’t exhaustive though, so if you know of more types, please add a comment below and I’ll add it to the list.
Here’s the list of supported filter types I’ve uncovered so far:
- Banks
- Coffee Shops
- Fast Food
- Gas Stations
- Grocery Stores and Supermarkets
- Restaurants
- Retail Stores
Check out what else you can do with Apple’s Voice Assistant in Keeping Up With Siri Commands. In this series, I explain each of the 366 commands that Apple developed for Siri, thereby taking the guesswork out of how to use each to get the most out of your iPhone.
