Good news for Apple users! Debit-credit card support returned to App Store after 5 years, how to use it?

After almost five years, Apple has restarted the support of credit and debit card payments for the App Store in India. The company has taken this step after following the card tokenization rules of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This will make it easier than ever for iPhone and iPad users to purchase apps and pay for subscriptions.

At present, Apple has supported credit and debit cards of Visa and Mastercard. However, payment cannot be made directly on the App Store with these cards. First, users will have to add money to their Apple Account Wallet and then the same balance can be used to purchase apps or subscriptions like iCloud+.

This feature will come gradually
The company is rolling out this feature in phases. In the coming days it will reach all Apple accounts. At the same time, the option to add money to Apple account through UPI will be available as before. According to reports, RuPay card support may also be added in the coming weeks.

Actually, RBI had implemented card tokenization rules a few years ago to make online payments more secure. Under this, no company is allowed to store the user’s real card number and expiry date. A secure digital token is used in their place. For this reason Apple had stopped card payments in India.

However, Apple has clarified that this does not mean that Apple Pay has been launched in India. Apple Pay is the company’s contactless payment service, which is currently not available in India.

To add the card to Apple Account, users will have to verify through OTP. After this the saved card can be removed anytime. At the same time, recurring subscriptions like iCloud+ will work only under the e-mandate rules of RBI. For the first time, approval will have to be given through OTP, whereas the next payment within the prescribed limit will be completed automatically after intimation from the bank.