You’re checking out on a website in Safari, Apple Pay pops up, and it tells you to double-click Touch ID to pay. You double-click. Nothing happens. You try again. Still nothing. The button is right there, Touch ID works everywhere else on your Mac, and the payment just won’t go through.
Apple Pay not working on Mac Safari with this exact “double-click Touch ID” symptom usually isn’t a Mac problem at all. The setting that actually controls it lives on your iPhone, not your Mac. That’s exactly why most people never think to check it.
Why the Fix Isn’t Where You’d Expect It
Apple’s own Safari support guide explains how Apple Pay purchases in Safari get completed. You can use Touch ID on your Mac, or an iPhone or Apple Watch signed into the same Apple Account. That cross-device relationship is the key detail. Even when you’re paying directly with Touch ID on the Mac itself, the connection to your iPhone stays part of how the system authorizes the purchase behind the scenes.
According to a discussion on Apple’s Support Community, a specific toggle on the iPhone side can silently break that connection. The fix that resolved Apple Pay not working on Mac Safari for one user had nothing to do with Safari, Touch ID, or anything on the Mac at all.
Fix 1: Toggle Allow Payments on Mac From Your iPhone
This is the fix most people never find. It requires looking at your iPhone’s settings to solve a problem that only shows up on your Mac.
How to fix:
- On your iPhone, open Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay
- Tap Apple Pay Defaults
- Find Allow Payments on Mac and turn it off
- Wait a few seconds, then turn it back on
- Return to Safari on your Mac and try the purchase again
Fix 2: Confirm Both Devices Use the Same Apple Account
Apple Pay’s cross-device handoff only works correctly when your Mac and iPhone are signed into the exact same Apple Account. A mismatch here can produce the exact same Apple Pay not working on Mac Safari symptom.
How to check:
- On your Mac, go to System Settings, click your name at the top, and confirm the Apple Account shown
- On your iPhone, go to Settings, tap your name at the top, and compare it to the Mac
- If they don’t match, sign into the same Apple Account on both devices before trying Apple Pay again
Fix 3: Restart Both Devices Together
This issue involves a live connection between your Mac and iPhone rather than a setting on just one device. Restarting only the Mac sometimes isn’t enough to clear whatever state caused the handoff to fail.
How to fix:
- Restart your iPhone first
- Once it’s fully back on, restart your Mac
- Open Safari and attempt the Apple Pay purchase again. A fresh connection between both devices often resolves intermittent authorization failures
Fix 4: Check for the Safari Version-Specific Bug
Apple Pay not working on Mac Safari has also turned up in developer reports tied to specific Safari versions rather than account or device settings. If the fixes above don’t help, this is worth ruling out.
How to check:
- Go to Apple menu > About This Mac, then check for pending macOS updates. Safari updates through macOS rather than the App Store
- Install any available update
- If the problem persists on the latest Safari version, it may be a site-specific issue. That particular merchant may have implemented Apple Pay incorrectly, rather than anything wrong with your Mac
Fix 5: Use Your iPhone or Apple Watch to Complete the Purchase Instead
While you track down the underlying cause, switching which device completes the authorization is a reliable workaround. It doesn’t depend on fixing the Mac-side prompt at all.
How to fix:
- When the Apple Pay prompt appears in Safari on your Mac, look for the option to continue on your iPhone or Apple Watch instead of using Touch ID directly on the Mac
- Confirm the purchase using Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode on that device
- The purchase completes through Safari on the Mac. You never need the Mac’s own Touch ID prompt to work correctly
Frequently Asked Questions
Why would an iPhone setting affect Apple Pay not working on Mac Safari specifically? Apple Pay treats your iPhone, Apple Watch, and Mac as one connected system tied to your Apple Account, rather than fully independent devices. The Allow Payments on Mac setting on the iPhone is part of how that system authorizes purchases made through a Mac. That’s why resetting it on the iPhone can fix a symptom that only appears in Safari.
Does Apple Pay not working on Mac Safari affect every Mac with Touch ID, or only certain models? Reports describing this exact symptom don’t point to a specific Mac model. The cross-device Apple Pay system works the same way across Macs with Touch ID. The iPhone-side toggle is worth checking regardless of which Mac you’re using.
Will turning off Allow Payments on Mac disable Apple Pay everywhere? No. It only affects whether your Mac can be used to complete Apple Pay purchases. Apple Pay on your iPhone and Apple Watch themselves keeps working normally, even while that specific Mac permission is off.
Is there an official Apple statement confirming this as a known issue? No. This fix comes from user troubleshooting on Apple’s Support Community rather than from Apple directly. Apple’s own documentation describes the general Mac, iPhone, and Apple Watch relationship. It doesn’t call out this specific toggle as a fix for the double-click Touch ID symptom.
Should I report this to Apple? Yes, especially if resetting the Allow Payments on Mac toggle resolves it for you. Reporting through Feedback Assistant with the exact symptom helps Apple understand how often this cross-device setting causes confusion. If you’re also troubleshooting AirPods Pro 3’s hearing aid feature disabling unexpectedly, that’s another case where the real fix lives somewhere less obvious than the device actually showing the problem.
The Bottom Line
Apple Pay not working on Mac Safari, especially the stuck double-click Touch ID prompt, often traces back to a setting on your iPhone rather than anything wrong with your Mac. Toggling Allow Payments on Mac off and back on under Wallet & Apple Pay Defaults is the fastest fix. It’s worth trying before assuming Touch ID itself is broken. If that doesn’t resolve it, confirming both devices share the same Apple Account and restarting them together covers most of what’s left. When nothing else works, completing the purchase through your iPhone or Apple Watch instead keeps you from being stuck entirely while you wait for a permanent fix. It’s the same lesson behind Reminders’ “Alarms Access is Off” popup — a setting on one Apple device quietly controlling a feature on another, with no obvious indication of the connection anywhere in the interface.