Vending machines are hugely convenient if you just want to grab a drink or a snack without having to go to a shop. However because for the most part vending machines don’t take huge notes, if you don’t have smaller notes or coins, you’d be out of luck. Then again, it’s these kinds of conveniences that mobile payment systems hope to offer.
Over in Canada, it seems that the country’s vending machines will now be able to accept Apple Pay, or at least in some form. This is because the machines won’t actually take Apple Pay itself, but rather through a third-party app called PayRange that allows users to make payments using Apple Pay, so in reality Apple Pay’s presence is more for in-app purchases rather than a direct transaction between your phone and the machine, but we guess it’s still pretty good.
The widespread adoption is also thanks to the Canadian National Vending Alliance. However there is a slight catch and that is while all machines across Canada should in theory be able to support Apple Pay, it will require the machines to be equipped with a BluKey dongle, which can apparently be installed in seconds for machines that do not have it, so do keep an eye out for compatible machines if you are planning on using the feature.
Filed in . Read more about Apple Pay.