Apple Watch not paying for things by contact

[Jason Davies]

Hi Smuggers,

I got interested in using the Assistive Touch on my Watch. Normally, to pay for things, it's double press on the side button but I'm the kind of person who carries too many things and being able to do the same thing by pinching two fingers together seemed a nice refinement.

Except that it didn't work. The screen showed exactly what it does when you use the default side button ('Hold Near Reader') but it didn't register. Ok, so I used the side button instead. Didn't register. Just used my phone thinking it was nothing.

But it happened again the next time. So I switched off Assistive Touch, put it all back as it had been. Still didn't work.

The tricky bit here is that it's hard to experiment with the settings then test it. I don't have anything that would register like a payment reader, and don't really feel like spending the afternoon in the local shop buying one thing at a time and then pulling my phone out when it doesn't work;) I'd probably get kicked out eventually:)

I'm loathe to reset it to see if it's software or hardware but that's all I can think of now. Has anyone else come across anything like this?

All the cards are still there. They work via the iPhone. It simply doesn't seem to send out the frequency or magic waves or whatever they are that the contactless reader is expecting. The three times I did it are all at places where I've used the watch multiple times before.


Any help appreciated...it's the main use of the Watch in practice so I'm not delighted about this.
Cheers,

Jason