The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a new initiative from Apple: for the first time the company seems to be using iOS notifications feature to pester iPhone users to sign up for Apple Pay. As the WSJ reports:
“Apple Inc. is nagging iPhone users to enroll in its mobile-payment service with a persistent red-circle badge. The strategy has worked with some, but is irritating others who say it is heavy-handed and exploits the tech giant’s clout in ways that could disadvantage rivals.
The tactic, part of the iPhone’s latest operating software launched last fall, is subtle. Users who opt not to input credit-card information for Apple Pay when setting up their phones now constantly see the red circle over their settings icon, indicating their setup is incomplete. Some users also periodically get notification reminders that go away only once they start the enrollment process.”
It’s unfortunate that Apple is doing this (and maybe it is just a bug on their part–let’s hope). But this nagging notification badge feature has been a staple of other apps for years–and it usually has the exact opposite results of what the developers want.
Who hasn’t seen the red notification badge appear over an app, only to open it to find out the app was pestering you to either enter more information or show you an ad. Annoying doesn’t begin to explain it.
So it’s a shame to see Apple using the tactic now with Apple Pay. For what it’s worth, Apple Pay is one of the best features of iOS and the iPhone. It works flawlessly and has for years. Matter of fact, I’m betting most reader love using Apple Pay.
Still, those that haven’t set the feature up should be nagged by Apple to do so. If you’re one of those people who that applies to, the good news is you can disable the annoying notification badge on the Settings app icon. Here’s how:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone. It won’t be hard to miss as it’s got that annoying red notification badge on its corner.
- Tap Finish Setting Up Your iPhone (or iPad, if you are on your iPad).
- You’ll now see a menu option called “Set Up Apple Pay”. Yeah, this is counter-intuitive if you want to disable Apple Pay notifications, but hey, it is what it is.
- The Apple Pay setup screen will appear where you’ll be directed to add a card to Apple Pay by tapping the big blue “Continue” button. DO NOT TAP THIS. Instead, tap either the “Cancel” button in the left-hand corner or the “Set Up Later in Wallet” button below the Continue button.
- Once you’ve done this, you’ll exit Apple Pay setup and that annoying red notification badge will have disappeared from the Settings app icon.
