Apple Pay in Turkey: Status and Ways to Pay Instead

Apple’s own list of countries and regions for Apple Pay does not name Türkiye (checked 30.10.2026). For a card from a bank abroad, Apple sets out three conditions, and the shop has a say too. At the till there are other ways to pay: the contactless card, the TR Karekod QR code, the apps of licensed institutions and cash.

What Apple’s list says

Apple keeps one page, «Countries and regions that support Apple Pay», published 27 October 2026. It says you can add «credit, debit, or prepaid cards from participating banks and card issuers in these countries and regions», and sorts the places into six regions: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and India, and North America.

The page

Apple Support, «Countries and regions that support Apple Pay», published 27 October 2026.

Where it shows

In shops, within apps and on the web: wherever you see the Apple Pay symbols and marks. Online and in apps, look for the Apple Pay button or Apple Pay listed as a payment method.

Your card

To check whether your card is compatible, Apple says to contact your card issuer.

A shop

To confirm where you can use Apple Pay, Apple says to contact the merchant. Some stores might show the symbol on their readers but might not be set up to accept contactless payments, Apple Pay included.

A change

Apple’s page does not say whether a Turkish card will be added. If that changes, this list is where it shows.

Apple Support · «Learn where to use Apple Pay», published 16.12.2024, and the country list · checked 30.10.2026 · where to use · country list

A card from abroad

Apple sets three conditions for paying with Apple Pay in a shop. A payment network is the system behind a card, such as Visa, Mastercard or TROY; NFC is the short-range radio in a phone or card that lets it talk to a reader held close.

• A supported card. It comes from a participating card issuer; to check, contact the issuer.
• A shop that takes your network. In addition to accepting Apple Pay, a merchant has to accept your card’s payment network.
• A reader with contactless on. For in-store purchases, the merchant’s payment devices need NFC Contactless enabled.

Apple Support · «Learn where to use Apple Pay», published 16.12.2024 · checked 30.10.2026 · page

American Express is one such network and has its own page: American Express in Turkey. The cards of the other networks and the banks behind them are in Credit cards in Turkey.

What a shop shows

Where a shop takes Apple Pay it may show the mark, as here. A mark on a reader is not proof: Apple’s three conditions still apply, and the shop is the one to ask.

1. Look for the markThe Apple Pay symbols and marks on the reader, the till or the shop’s door.
2. AskSay it in Turkish, or show the line from the words chapter: Telefonla ödeyebilir miyim?Can I pay by phone?
3. Pay or choose another wayIf the answer is no, the contactless card, a QR code and cash each have a chapter on this page.

Whether a given card is supported is the card issuer’s answer, and this page does not guess it. Even a supported card needs a shop that accepts it.

The contactless card on a POS

A contactless card (temassız kart) pays when it is held close to the reader of a POS, the card terminal at the till (point of sale). Card and reader talk by NFC, and the reader shows the contactless mark. TROY, Türkiye’s own card system, says on its page that a contactless TROY card pays wherever the contactless symbol is. BKM (Bankalararası Kart Merkezi, the banks’ joint card centre) counts the devices and the cards.

TROY

Türkiye’s own card system, set up in 2016 under BKM. A card with the TROY logo works at all ATMs and POS devices in Türkiye; abroad, BKM says, a card needs an international scheme logo.

Phone tap

TROY’s page says its mobile contactless payment works for now on NFC-compatible Android phones at contactless POS devices. BKM counts 7,774,786 «mobil temassız» (mobile contactless) transactions in August 2026.

PIN

BKM’s and TCMB’s pages print no amount above which a contactless payment asks for a PIN (şifre), so the page gives none.

Other wallets

Google’s page of supported countries for Google Wallet and Samsung’s country page for Samsung Pay do not list Türkiye (checked 30.10.2026).

Say

Temassız ödeme alıyor musunuz?Do you take contactless payment?

BKM · «Türkiye’nin Ödeme Yöntemi – TROY», «Temassız Kart Sayıları», «Temassız POS / ÖKC Yazılım Sayıları», «Yerli Kartların Yurt İçi ve Yurt Dışı Temassız Kullanımı», «Mobil Temassız / Karekodla Yapılan Ödeme İşlemleri» · TROY · Google Wallet Help · Samsung Developer · checked 30.10.2026 · TROY at BKM · cards · POS · transactions · mobile · TROY · Google · Samsung

The same tap in transit

BKM’s page on NFC lists transport among its uses, and TROY’s page says a contactless TROY card or a mobile wallet can pay on city transport vehicles.

BKM · «NFC nedir?» · TROY · checked 30.10.2026 · BKM · TROY

TR Karekod, the QR code

A karekod is a QR code. TR Karekod is the common QR standard for payments, set out by TCMB (the Central Bank, Türkiye Cumhuriyet Merkez Bankası) in a rule of 21 August 2020: every payment made with a QR code that counts as a payment service uses TR Karekod. BKM sets up and runs the routing system that carries the code and its content between providers.

1. The shop shows its codeA static code has fixed content and serves many payments; a dynamic code is made for one payment and used once. A shop that offers QR payment tells customers that they can pay this way.
2. Open the app and scanThe shop’s code is read with the app of a provider in Türkiye that holds a generator code: a bank, a payment institution or an e-money institution.
3. Check and confirmThe app starts the payment. After it goes through, each provider tells its own side, by phone, text message or app, as soon as it can.

Who may issue codes

A provider needs a Karekod Üretici Kodu, a QR generator code, to make TR Karekod. BKM assigns it on request; banks use the EFT code they already have (EFT, elektronik fon transferi, is the bank-to-bank transfer system). BKM publishes the list of providers that hold one, with a column «Dijital Cüzdan Desteği» (digital wallet support); the list is linked here, not retold.

A cap

TCMB may set an upper limit on payments made with TR Karekod, and a provider may set its own inside it. The rule itself prints no figure.

A card from abroad

A QR payment made in Türkiye with a payment instrument issued under foreign law, where one side lives abroad and a provider abroad’s infrastructure is used, need not use TR Karekod. The app of a provider in Türkiye is the one that reads a TR Karekod.

How often

BKM counts 141,050,167 QR (karekod) transactions in August 2026 and 806,227,182 from January to August 2026. These are counts, not a share of all payments.

Say

Karekod ile ödeyebilir miyim?Can I pay with a QR code?

TCMB · «Ödeme Hizmetlerinde TR Karekodun Üretilmesi ve Kullanılması Hakkında Yönetmelik», 21.08.2020 · BKM · «TR Karekod Üretici Kodu» and «Mobil Temassız / Karekodla Yapılan Ödeme İşlemleri» · checked 30.10.2026 · rule · generator codes · counts

Bank apps and licensed institutions

The app that reads a TR Karekod is run by a payment service provider. TCMB’s overview names four kinds that may operate today: banks, payment institutions, e-money institutions and the postal and telegraph company PTT.

A payment institution (ödeme kuruluşu) is a company the law gives permission to provide payment services; an e-money institution (elektronik para kuruluşu) is one the law lets issue electronic money, value stored electronically that can be used to pay. BDDK is the banking regulator; the overview says that since 1 January 2020 TCMB is the authority that regulates and supervises payment services, payment service providers and e-money issuing.

1. Find the companyLook in the app’s terms for the name of the company that runs it.
2. Find it in TCMB’s tableThe tables list the payment institutions and the e-money institutions in operation.
3. Check the cancelled listsEach of TCMB’s two pages also lists institutions whose permission was cancelled.
4. Report what is not permittedTCMB has a guide for reporting a person or firm that offers payment services without permission.

The list of banks is in Turkish banks. This page names no app and no company: the tables are the check.

TCMB · «Ödeme Hizmetleri Alanına Genel Bakış», «Ödeme Kuruluşları», «Elektronik Para Kuruluşları», regulation on payment services of 1.12.2021 · checked 30.10.2026 · overview · payment institutions · e-money institutions · reporting guide · regulation

Cash and the currency question

Cash

Cash is Turkish lira (Türk lirası). TCMB’s page on the banknotes in circulation lists 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 lira notes; several series circulate together, and the newest listed, a 200-lira series, went into circulation on 26 October 2026.

TCMB · «Dolaşımdaki Banknotlar ve Güvenlik Özellikleri» · checked 30.10.2026 · page

The slip a shop prints is the fiş (FEESH, the receipt); it shows what was charged. Foreign currency is döviz (duh-VEEZ).

At a card terminal abroad, the terminal may offer to charge you in your home currency. That is DCC, dynamic currency conversion. Visa explains it on its own page, and the two answers use its words.

Visa · «Decoding Dynamic Currency Conversion» · checked 30.10.2026 · page. This page gives no advice beyond the scheme’s words and no fee figure.

Words at the till

Each line has a Copy button: paste it into a message or show it on the phone. Paying at a supermarket till has its own page, Supermarkets in Turkey.

temassız

(teh-mahs-SUHZ) contactless

karekod

(KAH-reh-kohd) QR code

nakit

(nah-KEET) cash

şifre

(sheef-REH) PIN or password

fiş

(FEESH) receipt

döviz

(duh-VEEZ) foreign currency

The Turkish ö is the vowel of German «schön»; the Turkish ı is a short «uh».

Quick answers

Sources and limits

Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, each with its author, date, licence and file page in the caption. The cover and the four other drawings are illustrations and show no real shop or person.

What this page does not do: it names no bank, app or institution as working or not working, gives no reason for Apple’s list and no forecast, and prints no fee. The pages in the sources hold the current words.