Apple Pay Now Lets You Spend Amex Points at Checkout
What You Need to Know
- American Express added in-checkout Membership Rewards redemption to Apple Pay without redirecting to separate apps.
- Feature requires iOS 18 or iPadOS 18, works with Platinum, Gold, and Green eligible cards.
- Redemption rate fixed at 0.7 cents per point: 10,000 points equals $70 statement credit.
- Users can apply points to full or partial purchase amounts within Apple Pay checkout flow.
American Express has added a way to spend Membership Rewards points directly inside the Apple Pay checkout flow, with no redirect to a separate app or website. The feature works on iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 or later, and applies to eligible cards including the Platinum, Gold, and Green.
The redemption rate is fixed: every 10,000 points equals a $70 statement credit toward the purchase. That works out to 0.7 cents per point, which sits below the valuations most points enthusiasts assign to Membership Rewards when transferred to airline or hotel partners. Still, for everyday purchases where convenience matters, the integration removes the friction that has historically made in-checkout redemption awkward.
How it works at checkout
When you tap to pay with an eligible Amex card through Apple Pay, a Membership Rewards option appears in the payment sheet. You can apply points to cover the full amount or just part of it, with the remainder charged to the card as usual. The whole thing happens within the Apple Pay checkout flow, which already handles shipping addresses and other purchase details in a single tap.
The iPad side of this is worth keeping in mind. If you run into any card recognition issues after updating, removing and re-adding your card in the Wallet app is the standard fix before assuming the feature is broken.
The announcement comes at a moment when Apple is navigating some larger structural questions around its payments ecosystem. The satellite infrastructure underpinning iPhone’s broader services layer recently changed hands, after Amazon acquired the company Apple had backed with over a billion dollars. The Amex integration is a much smaller story, but it reflects the same pattern: Apple tightening the loop between its hardware and third-party financial services.
For Amex cardholders already using Apple Pay regularly, the update is a quiet quality-of-life improvement. The redemption value is not exceptional, but the convenience is real.
0 Comments