Is PayPal and Apple Pay the same?

02 Feb 2023

No, the primary goal of Apple Pay is simple point-of-sale payment, web payments, and, more recently, payments between Apple devices. The payee must have a compatible terminal and accept credit card payments, and the payer must be using an Apple Device. Apple Pay is user-friendly and has established the gold standard for secure credit card payments.

PayPal is a simple way to accept payments online and can also be used as an online credit card processor. You don't need an expensive merchant account to accept credit cards with PayPal. Payments can be made directly with much less overhead if both parties have PayPal.

Apple Pay is a mobile payment app. PayPal is simply a banking app that allows you to store money and receive payments. PayPal can be used to send or receive money in a variety of ways. However, you cannot link your PayPal account to your Apple Pay account. This means you can't use PayPal to make contactless Apple Pay payments on your iPhone or Apple Watch.

This does not preclude you from using PayPal on your phone; you can link your PayPal account to your Apple ID. This allows you to use your PayPal account to purchase apps and music on Apple apps.