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Walmart shoppers will soon be able to pay with a simple tap of their phone, smartwatch, or NFC-enabled card at checkout.
Walmart announced on August 21 that it is rolling out Tap to Pay at its stores and Sam’s Club locations nationwide. The feature lets customers pay using a contactless credit or debit card, a smartphone, or a smartwatch instead of inserting or swiping a physical card. The move ends more than a decade of Walmart avoiding contactless payment technology that most major retailers adopted years ago.
Tap to Pay relies on Near Field Communication, known as NFC. This is the same short-range wireless technology already built into most modern debit and credit cards, smartphones, and smartwatches. The transaction usually takes less than a second to complete.
The rollout will happen in stages:
- Some Walmart and Sam’s Club stores get Tap to Pay starting August 24.
- All U.S. Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations will have the option by the end of 2026.
- Walmart and Sam’s Club fuel stations will add Tap to Pay by mid-2027.
Tap to Pay will accept eligible contactless cards and digital wallets, including Apple Pay and Google Pay. Shoppers can also add their Walmart, Sam’s Club, and OnePay cards, as well as Walmart’s banking app, to a digital wallet and use them at checkout the same way.
The technology also adds a layer of security. Each contactless transaction generates a unique code instead of sending the card number directly to the POS terminal. This makes it harder for that information to be copied or reused if a payment terminal is ever compromised. It uses the same system as Apple Pay and Google Pay at other retailers.
The new option does not replace existing ones. Cash, credit cards, and Walmart Pay, the company’s own in-app payment system, will continue to work at checkout. Sam’s Club members can also keep using Scan & Go, which lets them scan items as they shop and pay through the app without waiting in a checkout line.
In a statement, Walmart said the update gives customers “another familiar and convenient way to pay at checkout.” The company said the goal is to let shoppers pay in whatever way works best for them.
The change brings Walmart in line with most other retailers. Many stores added support for contactless payment after Apple introduced Apple Pay in 2014, and adoption increased further during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shoppers have complained online for years about not being able to use Apple Pay or Google Pay inside Walmart stores, even as the option became standard almost everywhere else.
Until now, Walmart shoppers who wanted to pay with their phone had to use Walmart Pay, which requires scanning a QR code inside the app. Retail analysts have long noted that this setup let Walmart collect more purchase data than it could through card network wallets like Apple Pay. Walmart has not said whether that was a factor in the delay.
The update can ease a huge number of customers. Walmart is the largest retailer in the United States, and Sam’s Club has millions of members nationwide. The change itself is not new technology. It simply gives Walmart and Sam’s Club shoppers a payment option that has been standard at other stores for years. Walmart has not said whether Tap to Pay will extend to online orders placed through its app and website, which currently run on separate payment systems.
