iPhone-toting Starbucks customers have been able to pay for their coffee with the Starbucks app and Apple’s Wallet app for a while now, but come next year, they’ll have another way to pay.
Apple Pay executive Jennifer Bailey revealed today that Starbucks will begin supporting Apple Pay in 2016. All stores are expected to support the service next year, but some Starbucks stores will begin testing Apple Pay as soon as 2015. What’s still unclear is if Starbucks orders paid for with Apple Pay will count toward the Starbucks customer loyalty program like purchases made with the Starbucks app and Apple Wallet app do.
In addition to Starbucks, Bailey says that KFC and Chili’s will begin accepting Apple Pay in 2016.
As I said before, Starbucks already lets customers pay for orders with their iPhone and Apple Watch using either the Starbucks app or a card that’s loaded into Apple’s Wallet app. Apple Pay will make payments even easier, though, letting iPhone and Apple Watch owners use NFC to tap a terminal and pay. With the current Starbucks app or Wallet payment methods, customers must show a barcode and have it scanned in order to pay for an order.
