Walmart Finally Accepts Apple Pay and Google Pay, State by State From Aug. 24

Walmart is turning on tap-to-pay for iPhone and Android customers for the first time, ending more than a decade of resistance to NFC payments at the checkout. Apple Pay begins rolling out to Walmart and Sam's Club registers on August 24, with Google Pay following on the same date at select locations, and both are scheduled to reach every US store by the end of 2026.

The retailer confirmed the move in a corporate statement, and an internal store-management memo obtained by 9to5Mac lays out exactly which states get access and when. Google separately detailed the Google Pay side of the rollout on its own blog.

Why this is a big deal

Walmart has long been the largest US retailer to block contactless card and phone payments at checkout. Instead, it pushed shoppers toward Walmart Pay, its own QR-code system built into the Walmart app, which requires opening the app and scanning a code rather than tapping a phone or watch. That holdout position made Walmart an outlier among major chains, most of which have supported Apple Pay and Google Pay for years.

Cash, credit and debit cards, and Walmart Pay will all keep working exactly as before. Apple Pay and Google Pay are being added on top, not replacing anything.

The state-by-state Apple Pay schedule

According to the internal memo, Apple Pay rolls out to Walmart and Sam's Club stores in this order:

• Aug. 24–31: Arkansas
• Sept. 10: California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii
• Sept. 14: Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma
• Sept. 17: Texas
• Sept. 21: Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming
• Sept. 24: Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa
• Sept. 28: Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky
• Oct. 1: Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi
• Oct. 5: Florida
• Oct. 8: North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, West Virginia, Puerto Rico
• Oct. 12: Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont, District of Columbia

Missouri, where Walmart is headquartered, is notably absent from the leaked schedule, and neither Walmart nor 9to5Mac's report explains the gap. If you live there, treat your store's rollout date as unconfirmed until Walmart says otherwise.

Google Pay lands the same week, but with a narrower start

Google Pay's rollout begins August 24 too, but only at select Walmart and Sam's Club locations rather than an entire state at once. Google says full US coverage is targeted by the end of 2026, matching Walmart's own timeline for Apple Pay. Gas station terminals at Walmart and Sam's Club fuel stations are being left out of this phase — support there isn't expected until mid-2027.

Walmart hasn't published a store locator or app notification for either rollout yet, so the only way to know if your local store is live is to try tapping at checkout starting on your state's date.

What still works the same way

Contactless-enabled credit and debit cards, Samsung Pay, payment-enabled smartwatches, and contactless EBT cards are covered by the same rollout, alongside Apple Pay and Google Pay. Walmart Pay isn't going away — the QR-code system stays available for anyone who prefers it or shops somewhere the tap-to-pay rollout hasn't reached yet.

The move follows other recent expansions to both wallets: Apple Wallet's driver's license support just widened to four more states, and Google Wallet added supervised balances for kids without a bank account earlier this year.

What to watch for

Two things aren't nailed down yet: Missouri's place in the schedule, and whether Walmart will push an in-app notification when tap-to-pay actually goes live at a specific store. Until then, the safest approach is to check the date for your state above and try Apple Pay or Google Pay at the register once that date passes.