Apple Pay Down: Thousands Unable to Make Payments Amid Outage

On May 16, 2025, Apple Pay users around the world experienced a major disruption that prevented them from making purchases, transferring money, or accessing services tied to Apple’s mobile wallet. Reports of the issue began to spike around 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, with thousands of users quickly taking to social media and issue-reporting sites to share their frustrations.

Surge in Reports: What Users Experienced

According to DownDetector, nearly 3,000 users in the U.S. reported problems with Apple Pay by 11:08 a.m. PT. Users described being met with an error message reading “Account Services Unavailable” when trying to complete transactions. The outage also affected Apple Cash, Apple Card, and the Wallet app — services that have become integral to daily digital financial transactions.

While the U.S. bore the brunt of the complaints, UK users also reported similar issues. Around 600 users in Britain reported being unable to use Apple Pay during the disruption. For many, the issue wasn’t just an inconvenience — it left some without the ability to make essential purchases in stores or online.

Apple Responds as Services Begin to Recover

Apple confirmed the issue on its System Status page at 10:14 a.m., acknowledging that “some users” were experiencing problems. Although the company did not provide an official reason for the outage, the public system status listing indicated that engineers were aware and investigating.

By midday, reports on DownDetector and other platforms began to taper off, suggesting that services were gradually being restored. However, Apple did not release a detailed postmortem or timeframe for complete resolution.

A Digital Wake-Up Call?

This marks the second major digital payment outage in May 2025, following a similar disruption involving Zelle earlier in the month. The back-to-back issues have raised concerns about the resilience of digital payment systems that millions now depend on for everyday financial interactions.

With the growing shift toward cashless transactions, today’s outage underscores a critical point: when digital systems fail, they can paralyze essential aspects of daily life. Experts stress the importance of maintaining alternative payment methods and regularly checking system status pages during periods of suspected downtime.

What Users Should Do?

If you’re still experiencing issues with Apple Pay:

• Visit the Apple System Status page for real-time updates.
• Try restarting your device and signing out and back into your Apple ID.
• Use alternative payment options (credit/debit card, PayPal, etc.) while waiting for service restoration.

As of now, service appears to be stabilizing, but Apple has not issued a full explanation — leaving many users wondering whether another digital disruption might be just around the corner.