Shopping App Now Tells Users If Apple Pay Works

In-store shopping app Chameleon has just added a thoroughly logical feature for an iOS app: It now notifies shoppers when the store they’re in accepts Apple Pay and gives step-by-step instructions for using it, according to BGR.

The app from startup ShopPad, which was originally released in late October, lets users search for products in a specific store, find which aisle they’re on and check inventory status, and also includes maps of shopping malls that include nearby bathrooms and elevators.

With that much store-specific information, adding Apple Pay status makes perfect sense. (An “Apple Pay available in this store” appears below the store’s logo in the app.)

Chameleon also includes more generic shopping-app features, including product reviews and ratings, along with deals and coupons that can be redeemed directly from the user’s iPhone. Users also get points for opening the app in certain retailers’ stores — including Target, Best Buy, Sears, Kmart, Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us — which convert into gift cards.

ShopPad says the Chameleon app “works at thousands of stores with new locations being added every week,” which means it clearly doesn’t cover all Apple Pay-accepting stores. But if the app actually confirms Apple Pay support on a store-by-store basis, it will be an improvement over earlier “where is Apple Pay?” apps such as MasterCard’s Nearby app, which was supposed to identify all nearby stores that support NFC contactless payments (and thus Apple Pay). Unfortunately, MasterCard Nearby just pinpointed the roughly 220,000 U.S. stores that are contractually allowed to accept NFC transactions — but didn’t filter out those that had removed NFC-reading PIN pads or turned off the capability.