For the sake of the HSBC social media employee whose deleted tweet alerted the world to Apple Pay’s imminent arrival in the UK, I’ll feign surprise. Apple Pay has officially launched in the UK today!

American readers who have had access to the iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad payment for the past ten months may be wondering what the fuss is about, but the actual launch details are pretty impressive, and assuming everything goes smoothly, it will have been worth the wait.

For a start, there are seven banks listed as launch participants: American Express, MBNA, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank. Weirdly, HSBC are listed in the “Coming Soon” section on Apple’s website, so their excitement and subsequent denial may have been misplaced. Indeed, their social media account is now informing people it will be launching “later in July”. They’re joined in the upcoming list of banks by Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank and TSB.

So, your bank is supported, and you want to get out there and take Apple Pay for a spin with some good old-fashioned capitalism. Where can you go to do it?

See related How secure is Apple Pay? HSBC accidentally confirms UK Apple Pay release date of 14 July PayPal to take on Apple Pay with mobile payment platform

The Apple site has some suggestions, highlighting a number of well-known high-street names such as Boots, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Costa, McDonalds and Waitrose. Companies such as Costcutter, EAT, JD Sports and Wilko are listed as “coming soon”.

Unsurprisingly, Apple is also listed as accepting its own payment system, but you won’t be able to visit the Apple Store to use Apple Pay to buy an Apple Watch: it’s limited to small transactions. As AppleInsider points out, “purchases above £20 will need software upgrades”, adding that the limit is planned to rise to £30 in September. Maybe you can just get a phone cover, then.

Update:

A couple of stores – Pret and Bill’s – have proven that it is possible to accept transactions of over £20. According to the Apple website, “To accept Apple Pay for transactions over £20, your payment terminal must be capable and configured properly, and your payment provider needs to support the latest network contactless specifications.”

Pret is particuarly pleased to have avoided the £20 cap, sharing this tweet encouraging the world to forget the cap and go sandwich crazy.

Images: Jason Howie and Shinya Suzuki used under Creative Commons