Walmart, which has long resisted contactless Tap to Pay payments, says its stores will get the tech, which supports Apple Pay and Google Pay, by the end of 2026

TechCrunch 2026-08-22 Sarah Perez

Context & Ripple Effects

This is a decade-long arc closing. Walmart launched Walmart Pay in late 2015 and pushed it to all of its US stores within months (4,600+ locations by mid-2016), deliberately keeping Apple Pay and Google Pay out rather than paying card-network tap fees — one of the last big retail holdouts against contactless wallets. Costco made the opposite call back in 2018, finishing an Apple Pay/Google Pay/Samsung Pay rollout across its US warehouses (except gas stations).

First-order effects

Shoppers with iPhone or Android wallets will be able to tap to pay at Walmart and Sam's Club stores by end of 2026, ending the checkout friction of opening Walmart Pay or swiping a card.
Apple and Google gain hundreds of millions of annual Walmart transactions for their wallet platforms; Walmart Pay loses its captive-checkout advantage.

Second-order effects

Card networks and issuing banks pick up interchange on a volume of transactions Walmart had shielded them from since 2016, while Walmart absorbs those fees it spent ten years avoiding.
Any remaining large-format retailers still gating wallets behind proprietary apps face the same customer-expectation pressure that just moved Costco (2018) and now Walmart.

Third-order effects

If the last major holdout folds, proprietary store wallets shift from payment rails to loyalty-and-offers layers riding on top of NFC taps — and the regulated platform take rate debate over who skims what from each tap moves fully into the open.
Wallet acceptance becomes table stakes across US retail, making the differentiator not whether you take Apple Pay but what your own app adds on top of it.

The trend: US retail is completing its decade-long consolidation around universal NFC wallet acceptance, with proprietary store-payment apps retreating to loyalty layers.

Discussion

@walmart @walmart on x
@MacRumors trust that this is as big for me as it is for you
Ed Hernandez Ed Hernandez on linkedin
Today is a big day for our customers. Tap to Pay is coming to Walmart and Sam's Club! — Customers and members will be able to user their contactless card …
Drew Nagle Drew Nagle on linkedin
Exciting news for Sam's Club Mastercard cardholders: Tap to Pay is coming to select Sam's Club locations beginning Aug. 24, with plans to expand more broadly over time. …
Amanda Aguilar Amanda Aguilar on linkedin
Tap to Pay is coming to Walmart and Sam's Club! I've only been on this side of Walmart for a short time, but one thing that continues to amaze me is the SCALE behind the technology we build. …
@caseym.org Casey Morell on bluesky
thought this day would never come: walmart is adding apple pay in stores
@harrymccracken.com Harry McCracken on bluesky
Wouldn't it have been simpler for everyone involved to have done this many years ago? — (I was relieved when Home Depot, another holdout, finally implemented mobile payments last year.) https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/21/ walmart-finally-launching-apple-pay- support-next-week/
@Moltz@mastodon.social John Moltz on mastodon
“When we think about convenience, we think about a lot of things, but making customers wait 12 years to be able to use Apple Pay is a big part. Oh, our convenience, not theirs. Sorry, should have said that up front.” https://corporate.walmart.com/ ...
r/AppleWallet r on reddit
Walmart is finally launching Apple Pay support next week
r/googlenews r on reddit
Tap to pay with Google Pay is coming to Walmart.

Chronicles