Apple Wallet will save all credit cards in the future – also physical

Apple extends its Wallet appthe central application for credit cards with Apple Pay, tickets and loyalty cards on the iPhone. With iOS 26, which should appear in September, it is possible to also save credit and debit cards in the app that are not compatible with Apple’s payment service. The idea is to have to carry fewer physical cards around – at least if you only want to use them online. Cards already stored in the Safari browser hike into the wallet on request, and you can also store completely new ones there.

Safari already knows credit cards

Before that, it was possible to take off credit card data in Safari to use them on the web during shopping. However, this type of information fits significantly better in the wallet app, since the Apple Pay cards are already saved and can be called up. Apple Wallet thus becomes a tool that covers the entire management of such cards.

However, putting the card information does not mean that you can then use the iPhone as a credit card – at least in most cases. Because a credit or debit card must continue to support Apple Pay or be integrated via a third party wallet app (only possible within the European Union), as is already possible with PayPal.

Enter with camera

The deposit of a physical credit card in iOS 26 is very easy. First you press from the main screen of the wallet app from the “…” button. Then you choose “Fill out”. The maps already stored in Safari will appear and can be stored in Apple Wallet. There is also the item “Add card”, through which new cards are stored.

The camera then opens here. You can hold a physical credit card in front of it and have the data read in via OCR. Alternatively, manual input is also possible. The card can also be checked for Apple Pay compatibility: If the bank offers this, it can be stored there right away. Otherwise, the physical cards can also be found later via the “Fill out” menu, but not in the standard wallet presentation. When using the Wallet app for physical credit cards, it should be borne in mind that you can store even more data in a central location. If an attacker succeeds in gaining access to them, all data are then gone. It is wiser to distribute information about several applications, for example in a separate password manager who does not come from Apple and has its own protection.