Loyalty cards are a pain. I never seem to have the one I need on me when I'm checking out at a store.
Walgreens is making sure its 80 million other Balance Rewards card members never have to remember a physical card again. The company recently announced that it's the first to offer its loyalty card through Apple Pay, the mobile payments solution that's baked into the iPhone 6 and up.
Here's how it works: you add your Balance Rewards card like a normal debit or credit card in the Wallet app on the iPhone. Once it's added, the card can be used at Walgreens like any other card that supports Apple Pay — just hold your iPhone near the card reader and authenticate with Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensor. The Apple Watch also supports Apple Pay, so if you can also hold up your wrist to authenticate a transaction.
Apple made it possible for merchants to support rewards cards in Apple Pay earlier this year with the release of iOS 9. Kohl’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Panera Bread, and Wegmans have said they plan to support their loyalty cards in Apple Pay as well.
