Tap to Pay on iPhone in France: which iPhone, which limit, what the first payment looks like

Tap to Pay on iPhone works in France on an iPhone XS or later kept up to date, with no reader and no subscription: your customer holds their contactless card to the top of your phone. Above €50, they are asked to type their PIN on your iPhone's screen, and below it their bank can still ask for one.

This page answers, in order, the three questions merchants ask before trying it: is my iPhone eligible, up to what amount, and what happens the very first time. The technical points come from Stripe's documentation, our card provider, read on 26 September 2026. The prices are ours.

Which iPhone, which iOS version

Stripe requires an iPhone XS or later, running an iOS version less than one year old, and states that iOS beta releases do not work (Stripe Terminal documentation, read on 26 September 2026).

Our app requires iOS 16.4 as a minimum. That is not an arbitrary threshold: PIN entry directly on the iPhone screen, which you need as soon as an amount goes over the contactless limit, is supported from iOS 16.4 according to the same documentation. In practice, keep your iPhone updated: that is the only maintenance involved.

An iPad cannot take payments. Tap to Pay is an iPhone feature, and our app is not built for tablets.

Which cards you can take

Tap to Pay on iPhone accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover contactless cards, as well as NFC wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay. In France the Cartes Bancaires network is supported too, and that matters: French consumer cards carry the CB logo and are usually co-badged with Visa or Mastercard (Stripe documentation for France, read on 26 September 2026).

Your customer has nothing to install. Their physical card is enough, and so is their phone or watch.

The limit in France: €50

Stripe publishes contactless limits country by country. For France: €50. Above that, the transaction may require PIN verification depending on the issuing bank's rules (Stripe support page on contactless limits, read on 26 September 2026).

At the counter, that means:

• a €12 sale: the customer taps their card and it is done;
• a €78 sale: your iPhone screen shows a keypad and the customer types their PIN on it;
• a payment with Apple Pay or Google Pay: a PIN is usually not requested, because the customer already authenticated on their own device.

Why a PIN is asked for on a small amount

It happens, and it is not a fault. Payments below €50 can be exempt from strong customer authentication, but the customer's bank has to request authentication once the low-value exemption has been used five times since their last successful authentication, or once the exempted payments add up to more than €150 (Stripe documentation for France, read on 26 September 2026). A regular who buys a coffee every morning will eventually be asked for a PIN, and that is normal.

When the card is declined before the PIN screen

Some cards only validate their PIN by contact, with the chip inserted into a reader. Contactless declines them before the keypad even appears. Stripe's advice in that case is to try another card or take the payment another way, for example with a payment link, which the app offers from the same screen: see payment link or QR code.

The first payment, in order

1. A verified account. That comes first: identity, company details where there is a company, a SEPA bank account. The detail is in what opening an account takes.
2. Apple's terms. They must be accepted before the first payment, with an Apple Account tied to your business. Once accepted, they are not asked again for the same account, including on another iPhone (Stripe documentation, read on 26 September 2026).
3. A configuration download. On first activation, a configuration update may install and take a few minutes, according to Stripe's documentation. Do it before you open, not in front of a waiting customer.
4. An internet connection. It is needed while you take the payment: if the phone loses the network, the payment stops.
5. The location permission. The app asks for it because Tap to Pay checks that your region is eligible.
6. The payment. You enter the amount, from €1, the customer holds their card to the top of the iPhone, types a PIN if the screen asks for one, and gets their receipt.

What one payment costs

The price of a Tap to Pay payment depends on where the card was issued and is on the pricing page. It has a percentage and a fixed part per payment, and the fixed part does not move, so a small ticket costs proportionally more. The schedule is explained in FiatFlex pricing, and a method for setting it against any other provider's published tariff is in how to compare card rates in France.

No subscription, no terminal to buy. Tap to Pay on iPhone is available in France at launch. To start, download the app.

Frequently asked questions

Is my iPhone eligible?

An iPhone XS or later, on an iOS version less than one year old, beta releases excluded. Our app requires iOS 16.4 as a minimum, and an older device will not be able to install it.

Do I need a terminal or a subscription?

No. No reader, no rental, no subscription, no sign-up fee: the iPhone is the terminal. You only pay on the payments you take, at the rates on the pricing page.

Why is my customer asked for a PIN on €8?

Because their bank has run out of the low-value exemption: five exempted payments since their last successful authentication, or €150 in total. The PIN is typed on your screen and the payment goes through.

What if the customer does not have their card with them?

Send them a payment request from the same app: it opens as a link or a QR code, and you choose card or stablecoin. The fees differ from contactless and are set out in FiatFlex pricing.

Can I take payments outside France?

The app's Tap to Pay is available in France. FiatFlex is open to merchants established in the euro area with a euro bank account: outside France, you take payments by payment link or in stablecoins. We do not announce any other Tap to Pay availability before it is open.