Apple Pay is probably coming to Chrome on iOS soon

Apple Pay is a convenient way to pay for goods and services with your phone, but if you're using any browser other than Safari, it won't work for in-browser purchases.

This will likely change soon. Steve Moser, iOS developer and writer at MacRumors, noticed that the iOS 16 developer beta 4, Apple Pay is available in Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. According to this Reddit thread, it's also available in Firefox.

This is only the case on iOS; Moser noticed that Apple Pay doesn't work in Edge or Chrome on the desktop, likely because the desktop browsers use their own web render engines, whereas the iOS versions use Safari's render engine.

9to5Mac noted (via The Register) that this could be Apple's reaction to Europe’s upcoming Digital Markets Act, which prohibits "gatekeepers" such as Apple to control which features show up and which don't in third party browsers that use Apple's rendering engine.

"...each browser is built on a web browser engine, which is responsible for key browser functionality such as speed, reliability and web compatibility. When gatekeepers operate and impose browser engines, they are in a position to determine the functionality and standards that will apply not only to their own web browsers, but also to competing web browsers and, in turn, to web software applications," the document says.

"Gatekeepers should therefore not use their position as undertakings providing core platform services to require their dependent business users to use any of those services provided by the gatekeeper itself as part of the provision of services or products by these business users."

For the end users, the benefits are clear: Regardless of which mobile browser a user relies on, Apple Pay will work.

The fact that the feature is showing up in a developer beta does not necessarily mean it will (immediately) make way to the final version of iOS, but it's a good indicator that it's coming soon.