Issuer Features
Discover the benefits, enablement steps,
and resources to get started.
Lifecycle Management
Easy card management
Easily and securely manage the lifecycle of payment cards provisioned to Apple Wallet to drive uninterrupted spend and activity and decrease operational costs. By automating card updates, including contact information changes, expirations, account closures, and lost or stolen cards, you ensure valid cards in Apple Wallet remain active and ready for use while significantly reducing call center volume. This lifecycle management capability also helps deepen engagement with cardholders by routing them to your app or customer service team for support.
Manage cards end to end
Once a card has been added to Apple Pay by a cardholder, issuers can manage various aspects of its lifecycle, including:
- Suspend, resume, and delete a card: Temporarily suspend and resume provisioned cards in Apple Wallet on behalf of the cardholder. Issuers can also instantly remove a provisioned card from Apple Wallet when a cardholder closes their account.
- Ensure transaction continuity: Keep provisioned cards in Apple Wallet active even when a physical card is temporarily suspended or is being shipped to the cardholder, driving continuous spend and preventing unnecessary declines.
- Update card details: Ensure DPANs (Device Primary Account Numbers) and Merchant Tokens (MPANs, or Merchant Primary Account Numbers) are kept current. This includes, but is not limited to changes to card art, the last four digits of the physical card, contact information, product name, and expiration date.
- Update support information: Easily update customer service details (website, email, or phone number) displayed on the back of the card in Apple Wallet.
Get started.
Enable lifecycle management
- Partner with us.
- Review the requirements.
- Issuers must implement fully automated lifecycle management processes to support real‑time deletion, suspension, resumption, and updating of all cards provisioned to Apple Pay.
- Review and adhere to sections relating to lifecycle management in Apple’s Issuer Functional Requirements (IFR).* The IFR details enablement requirements for all supported networks and all portfolios.
- Work with a payment network operator (PNO), token service provider (TSP), or issuer processor. Each network publishes its own issuer onboarding guidelines for wallets including Apple Pay. Issuers should follow PNO implementation guides, articles, and bulletins.
- Test. After implementation, thoroughly test to certify implementation is complete and reflects expected behavior.
- For help contacting your PNO, or if you have other questions about Apple Pay, contact Apple Pay Partner Support.
Explore the resources
Issuer Functional Requirements (IFR)*
Payment Network Operator Requirements (issued by PNO)
Token Service Provider Requirements (issued by TSP)
*Available after Apple Pay partner onboarding
Frequently asked questions
Yes, issuers enabling Apple Pay can easily and securely manage the lifecycle of all payment cards provisioned into Apple Wallet by cardholders.
Once a card is provisioned for Apple Pay, issuers can:
- Suspend, resume, and delete a card
- Ensure transaction continuity even when a physical card is replaced
- Update card details, including card art, FPAN suffix changes, and contact information
- Update customer service details on the back of a provisioned card in Apple Wallet — like a website, email, or phone number
Card lifecycle management is available in all markets where Apple Pay is live today.
Yes, issuers are required to enable lifecycle management for all cards provisioned into Apple Pay. Refer to the Issuer Functional Requirements (IFR) for details.
This feature can be enabled as part of a new or existing Apple Pay implementation. As with other Apple Pay features, Apple does not charge implementation fees for its enablement.
First, issuers should review and adhere to the lifecycle management‑related sections in Apple’s Issuer Functional Requirements (IFR). Then issuers should work with their payment network operator (PNO), token service provider (TSP), or issuer processor — following their implementation guides, articles, and bulletins. After implementation, issuers should thoroughly test to certify their implementation is complete and reflects expected behavior.
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In the US, Apple Pay is a service provided by Apple Payments Services LLC, a subsidiary of Apple Inc. Neither Apple Inc. nor Apple Payments Services LLC is a bank. Any card used in Apple Pay is offered by the card issuer.
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Apple Pay is not available in all markets. View Apple Pay countries and regions.
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Features are subject to change. Some features, applications, and services may not be available in all regions or all languages and may require specific hardware and software.