Does CVS take Apple Pay? (Updated 2025 guide)

Key Takeaways

• You can pay for your purchases at CVS Pharmacy using Apple Pay. However, this payment solution is only accepted in-store and you have to set up your Apple Pay with a payment method beforehand.
• To pay at CVS stores with Apple Pay, open your Wallet app, move your Apple device to the NFC reader at the checkout, and authenticate your payment. Read on to get more details.

CVS is known to be a major retail pharmacy chain based in the US. Apple Pay, on the other hand, has been rapidly growing in its adoption by businesses. However, while many businesses accept Apple Pay at checkout, some still don’t.

This has led many people to wonder: Does CVS accept Apple Pay? I’ll answer that question in this article and provide other details you should know. Keep reading.

Does CVS accept Apple Pay?

Yes, CVS accepts Apple Pay at checkout in all their stores. While the pharmacy chain has actually started accepting Apple Pay for quite some time, they stopped at a point. In 2018, CVS began to accept Apple Pay again in their stores.

This makes payment easier for its customers even when they do not have their cards with them for payment. However, you can’t use Apple Pay to make orders online on the CVS app or website.

How to use Apple Pay at CVS

If you want to use Apple Pay at CVS, you need to first set up Apple Pay on your iPhone.

To do that: open the Wallet app → tap the Add button at the upper right corner → select Debit or Credit Card → click Continue. After that, follow the on-screen prompt on the Wallet app to complete the setup.

After doing that or if you’ve already set up your Apple Pay, you can pay at CVS by using the steps below:

1. Open the Wallet app on your iPhone or Apple Watch then select the card you want to use for the payment.
2. Next, move your iPhone to CVS’s terminal or NFC card reader.
3. You will get a prompt to authenticate your payment with your Touch ID, Face ID, or passcode.
4. Keep your iPhone or Apple Watch near the terminal and your payment should read Done.

Benefits of using Apple Pay at CVS

Apple Pay offers a seamless payment method when checking out at stores like CVS. While there are several notable benefits to using Apple Pay at CVS, here are the ones that are most notable:

• Contactless Payment: With Apple Pay, you can pay for your purchases at CVS without making contact with their payment system. All you need is to move your Apple device close to the NFC reader at the checkout point and you’re good.
• Convenience: Apple Pay allows you to make payments easily at CVS stores. With it, you won’t need to always have to carry your card around.
• Speed: It offers arguably the fastest checkout time when making payments at checkout.
• Security: Apple Pay uses tokenization and biometric authentication to keep payment secure. Basically, it doesn’t use your saved card details directly when using it for payment but instead uses a token created for your card. Hence, this protects your actual card details

What forms of payment does CVS Pharmacy accept?

CVS accepts various forms of payments including cash, debit cards, credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover), and CVS gift cards. It also accepts all contactless payment solutions including Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay but only in-store.

You can make payments for your purchases at CVS with Apple Pay. This eliminates having to carry your cards or cash around anytime you want to visit the store and offers several other benefits as discussed in this piece. We hope you find this guide helpful.

Also Read:

• Does Dunkin Donuts take Apple Pay? Here’s what you need to know
• Which stores accept Apple Pay?
• Does Walmart accept Apple Pay?
• Does Walgreens take Apple Pay in 2025? (A complete guide)