Apple Pay in Ireland - Workaround

The Ayatolla

I've discovered a workaround to using Apple Pay in Ireland.

Steps:

1. You need a French Apple ID - very easy to get. Sign up here and select France and enter any French address - http://appleid.apple.com. Use post code 75008.
2. Change your region & language to France on your phone. Settings > General > Language and Region
3. Sign into your French Apple account on your phone. This is done in Settings > iTunes & App Store.
4. Download the "Boon" app.
5. Setup a Boon account. I used the bulk of my Irish address but set the country to France.
6. Check that your Boon balance is in Euros.
7. Add the "Boon" card to your Apple wallet.
8. Change your phone language back to English. Settings > General > Language and Region
9. Sign out of your French app store account and sign back in to your Irish account. (See step 3).
10. Top up your Boon account. You can use a credit card or bank transfer (I don't think Debit cards work) but there is a €1EUR fee. Topping up by bank transfer is free (They give you a dedicated IBAN to use for top-ups. I tried this and the transfer took one business day, so quite quick).

I've tested this in McDonald's and my local shop and all is working.

What you get:
1. Apple Pay on your iPhone, in Euros, with no transaction fees.
2. A virtual card to purchase online using Apple Pay.
3. Free top ups in EUR via bank transfer.
4. 250euro usage each month (this can be increased if you upload ID and proof of address in France such as bank statement, utility bill. Not everyone will have this of course.)

Something similar to this was posted previously using a UK boon account, however that account is in Sterling and you would be stuck with paying non-pound transaction fees everytime you buy in euros.

naasrd

Nice one! Well done man. Was giving up on ever getting a chance to use it.

The Ayatolla

Should keep us going until it launches!

naasrd

Took me a while but got it sorted. Here's the hurdles I fell at before getting there;

Best open a new French iTunes account on your iPhone, I couldn't get the "no CC" option on my Mac. I signed out of my Irish acc then went to buy a free game in App store. The "no CC' option will be already checked on phone.

You'll need a French post code, 75008 works fine, and a phone number, I just googled a French hotel and used that.

When 2 options boxes come up only tick the T&Cs one, the other one locks you out. (It accepts your Irish phone number ok, but if you tick "agree to be contacted by" it blocks the account.

I set up my CC on Boon easily enough but then had to go through Visa's verification page, I got my limit wrong on the first attempt and it locked me out right away.

A debit card registers ok but won't let you top up at the final step so I went the wire transfer route and stuck a tenner in.

The Ayatolla

Thanks naasrd. I'll add the post code to the first post.

naasrd

The Ayatolla wrote: »

Thanks naasrd. I'll add the post code to the first post.

Great. Mods should look at making this a Stickie for a while, lots of members will want to try this.

The Ayatolla

Topped up by 5EUR from my KBC account just to test it.

Sent the money at 9.30am on Wednesday. Money was in my Boon account at 2.30pm the same day. Probably the fastest I've seen.

Dardania

Good find - I was curious about this boon business to try Apple Pay, but didn't go through with it after looking at their website...(also, holding out hop that revolut get apple pay!)

If one were to change an existing apple account to be french, does it prevent apps updating etc.?

mirrorwall14

But why would you need it? Is there anyone actually operating Apple Pay in ireland

Dardania

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

But why would you need it? Is there anyone actually operating Apple Pay in ireland

need is a strong term, in the eyes of geeks wanting to try out cool technology!
yes - well supported in Ireland. Anywhere you can use contactless payment (so most credit card machines at this stage...) you can use Apply Pay.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

The Ayatolla

Dardania wrote: »

Good find - I was curious about this boon business to try Apple Pay, but didn't go through with it after looking at their website...(also, holding out hop that revolut get apple pay!)

If one were to change an existing apple account to be french, does it prevent apps updating etc.?

No need to change accounts. Just setup a spare French one and log in and back out again after installing and setting up the app

Dardania

The Ayatolla wrote: »

Dardania wrote: »

Good find - I was curious about this boon business to try Apple Pay, but didn't go through with it after looking at their website...(also, holding out hop that revolut get apple pay!)

If one were to change an existing apple account to be french, does it prevent apps updating etc.?

No need to change accounts. Just setup a spare French one and log in and back out again after installing and setting up the app

does that prevent you getting app updates? Had a problem before with yahoo finance being a UK app, and never updating...

Doodah7

Dardania wrote: »

does that prevent you getting app updates? Had a problem before with yahoo finance being a UK app, and never updating...

For 'foreign' app store accounts, I just occasionally log in and then update. No big deal. I'm very interested in this too but like another poster said, I will wait a little while longer to see if Revolut finally do Apple Pay.

The Ayatolla

Yep I just login and out around one every month or so just to update my foreign apps like iPlayer, etc.

Bummer1234

Anyone ever get the message after trying to login to boon "Your account is locked. Please contact the service team."?

gabbo is coming

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Anyone ever get the message after trying to login to boon "Your account is locked. Please contact the service team."?

Your account is locked due to security concerns and you will need to supply proof of address to unlock and or get a refund

Bummer1234

gabbo is coming wrote: »

Your account is locked due to security concerns and you will need to supply proof of address to unlock and or get a refund

I got a feeling they won't accept an irish address (Irish passport or utility bill).

yrrag1974

Defo going to give this a try. Thanks a million for the heads up.

Is there anything stopping you setting up an Irish Boon account - they support Android in Ireland. Then downloading the Boon French app and logging in using that? Or will it reject it given it's not a French Boon account?

naasrd

Yeah, got the locked out message the following morning after I topped up.

The Ayatolla

I've been using it away fine ? Are people still locked out?

dave oc

Has anyone tried to change country/address from U.K. to France?

I set an account up last year using the same steps with a UK address but would like to change it to France to use euro. In the app it says to change address you need to contact support, but considering we are entering random address details I doubt I could say 'I'd like to change my address to a French one please' without them locking the account. Any suggestions?

The Ayatolla

You can't change country. You have to lose your UK account and setup a new one for France.

After closing the UK one, you have to wait 24-48 hours before signing up again to use the same email / password.

yrrag1974

Got set up ok but haven't tried it out yet nor loaded money into my account yet. Setup says that without ID you can only use it in French territories. Is that correct? Has anyone successfully used the Apple Pay element in Ireland? Thanks.

The Ayatolla

Using it away in Ireland.

yrrag1974

Works great - tried it this morning!

Thanks for the heads up!!!

Cheers

Bummer1234

Im still locked out myself,Sent them a email through there website last Thursday and still no reply.

Pedro32561

This is working great for me on iPhone and Apple Watch. Thanks for the workaround!

Gabba Gabba Hey

Where can you use it? I don't recall seeing many terminals with the logo about?

Creamy Goodness

Gabba Gabba Hey wrote: »

Where can you use it? I don't recall seeing many terminals with the logo about?

Pretty much everywhere where the contactless logo is displayed. Terminals don't have to display Apple Pay logo to be able to use Apple Pay with.

The Ayatolla

Haven't had any issues using it on usual contactless terminals. Other than the looks you get when you say "Can I use contactless" and hold the phone on the terminal.