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Walmart is adding tap to pay at the checkout counter, a move that ends years of the retailer refusing to accept the contactless payment method most other major stores adopted long ago.
Starting August 24, select Walmart and Sam's Club locations will let shoppers pay by holding a contactless card, phone, or smartwatch near the terminal instead of swiping or inserting a card. Walmart says every store and club location in the country will have it by the end of 2026.
Walmart has been the biggest holdout among major U.S. retailers, blocking Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay at its more than 4,600 U.S. stores even as Target, Kroger, Home Depot, and Costco all made the switch years ago. Walmart has accepted Apple Pay at its Canadian stores since 2020.
The reasoning has never been much of a secret. Tap-to-pay wallets from Apple, Google, and Samsung tokenize your card number, which keeps Walmart from seeing and using your actual payment details the way it can when you pay through its own Walmart Pay app or scan a physical card. Walmart has pushed its own tools instead, including Walmart Pay's QR-code checkout and Sam's Club's Scan & Go, both of which keep transaction data inside Walmart's own systems.
That data-control incentive hasn't gone away, and it shows in how Walmart is rolling this out. Tap to pay works alongside Walmart Pay and Scan & Go rather than replacing them, and Walmart's own OnePay card is one of the payment methods getting the tap-to-pay treatment when it's loaded into a digital wallet.
Read more: Google Wallet now lets parents send kids money to tap and pay
Gas pumps are the last piece. Tap to pay won't reach Walmart and Murphy USA fuel stations until mid-2027, so if you're used to tapping your phone at the pump elsewhere, you'll keep swiping your card at Walmart gas stations for close to another year.
For now, check whether your local Walmart or Sam's Club has the new terminals before you leave your wallet at home. The rollout starts small next week and expands through the rest of the year, so tap to pay may not be live at your store on day one even after the August 24 start date.
