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Average Pro

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 16, 2013
469
191
Cali
Today I received a replacement credit card (CC) and when I went to update/load it in Wallet, the card was already there. How?

Background: I lost my old CC, reported it to my CC company, and received the new one today. I activated the card, via the CC website (not Apple website). Right after I hit activate on the CC website, I looked at my Wallet and noticed the number from the new CC was already in my Wallet. And there was no sign of the previous, lost card.

Turns out, once I activated the new card, it automatically went into my Wallet and removed the old CC and replaced it with the new one. Kind of nice as it kept all of the purchase history of the old one.
 

NoBoMac

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 1, 2014
5,819
4,429
Today I received a replacement credit card (CC) and when I went to update/load it in Wallet, the card was already there. How?

Your Wallet and card are registered with the issuer via Apple Pay servers so they can update automatically behind the scenes the ”fake” card that is in your Wallet. They tell Apple Pay there is a change and Apple pushes it down to the device.


Update your Apple Pay card number and expiration date​

With Apple Pay, your payment card has a unique Device Account Number used to process payments and an expiration date associated with that Device Account Number.
If your card expires or you otherwise get a new card:
  • The card number and expiration date linked to the Device Account Number should be updated automatically.
  • If your card issuer doesn’t support these updates, you might need to remove the card and add it again.

And:


Apple Pay servers​

The Apple Pay servers manage the setup and provisioning of credit, debit, transit, student ID, and access cards in Apple Wallet. The servers also manage the Device Account Numbers stored in the Secure Element. They communicate both with the device and with the payment network or card issuer servers. The Apple Pay servers are also responsible for reencrypting payment credentials for payments within apps or on the web.
 

ZipZap

macrumors 603
Dec 14, 2007
6,080
1,448
Lots of places know when a card is replaced and update what they have saved automatically
 

AZhappyjack

macrumors G3
Jul 3, 2011
9,681
22,826
Happy Jack, AZ
That's how it works... of all people, the card issuer should be able to update that automagically... if you add/update, your phone has to contact the issuer for confirmation... nothing to see here - business as usual.
 
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