Curve Pay vs Apple Pay: which is better on iPhone?
Information checked on 12 October 2026 against the providers' official websites. Fees and availability change — always confirm on the provider's site before signing up.
Choose Curve (Curve Pay or the Curve card) if…
- you live in the UK or the EEA and want one card that can charge any of your Visa or Mastercard cards;
- your bank does not support Apple Pay — Curve says its card makes any linked debit or credit card usable with Apple Pay;
- you want a monthly fee-free currency-conversion allowance (£/€250 on the free plan) or Curve’s cashback offers.
Choose Apple Pay if…
- your bank already supports Apple Pay and you simply want to pay with iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad or Mac;
- you want no extra layer and no extra fees — Apple charges nothing for Apple Pay;
- you live outside the UK/EEA, for example in Ukraine, where Apple Pay works but Curve is not offered.
You can combine them: on iPhone, many Curve users add the Curve card to Apple Pay. Curve’s own contactless wallet replaces Apple Pay only for EEA residents with an EEA Apple ID — UK iPhone users cannot enrol in Curve Pay contactless.
Apple Pay is Apple’s built-in wallet. You add cards from participating banks to the Wallet app and pay in shops, online and in apps with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. Apple says it does not charge any fees for Apple Pay and that your actual card number is not stored on Apple servers or shared with merchants.
Curve links your existing cards to a single Curve card and to Curve Pay, Curve’s own contactless wallet. Each payment goes through Curve and is charged to the card you choose. Since iOS 17.4, Apple has opened iPhone contactless payments to other wallets in the European Economic Area, which is why Curve Pay can now run on iPhones of EEA residents. Here is how the two compare on fees, cards, countries, speed, limits and verification.
Curve Pay vs Apple Pay — Side-by-side comparison
Fees, currencies, countries, cards, speed, limits and verification at a glance.
| Feature | Curve Pay | Apple Pay |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Card aggregator: one Mastercard-network Curve card plus the Curve Pay wallet, forwarding payments to cards you link. Holds no balances. | Apple’s wallet for cards from participating banks and card issuers. |
| Price | Curve Pay plan free; Curve Pay X £/€5.99, Pro £/€9.99, Pro+ £/€17.99 per month. | Apple charges no fees in stores, online or in apps. Your card issuer’s own fees still apply. |
| Foreign-currency fees | Free plan: £/€250 a month fee-free, then 2.99% above the Mastercard wholesale rate; +1.5% at weekends. Paid plans: higher allowances, then 1%, no weekend fee. | None from Apple; conversion is done by the card you pay with. |
| Currencies | Pays in any currency where Mastercard is accepted; no stored balances. | No balances; depends on your card. |
| Countries | Residents aged 18+ of the UK and EEA. | Dozens of countries; Apple’s list includes Ukraine, Poland, Czechia, Germany and the UK. |
| Cards you can use | Mastercard, Visa, Diners and Discover cards in your name. American Express is not on Curve’s list. | Cards from participating banks only. |
| Devices | Curve Pay contactless on Android; on iPhone only for EEA residents with an EEA Apple ID and iOS 17.4+. The Curve card itself can be added to Apple Pay. | iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro. |
| Transfer speed | Real-time card payments; not built for sending money to people. | Real-time card payments. Apple Cash (sending money) is available only in the US. |
| Limits | Plan allowances for fee-free FX and ATM cash; the free plan charges every ATM withdrawal (greater of 2% or £/€2). | Set by your card issuer. |
| Verification | ID document and liveness check during onboarding (per Curve’s privacy policy). | No separate check by Apple; your bank verifies the card. Payments need Face ID, Touch ID or passcode. |
Fees on real amounts
Worked examples using the providers' published fee schedules. Exchange-rate differences are not included unless stated.
- €400 spent abroad in a month on weekdays with Curve (free plan): €250 fee-free, then €150 × 2.99% = €4.49 on top of the Mastercard wholesale rate. The same fees apply when you pay with the Curve card inside Apple Pay, because the Curve card is the card being charged.
- €100 foreign-currency payment on a Sunday (free plan): add Curve’s 1.5% weekend fee — €1.50. Curve Pay X, Pro and Pro+ have no weekend fee.
- €300 cash from an ATM with Curve: free plan — greater of 2% or €2 = €6; Curve Pay X — €0 (€300 a month included).
- Break-even for Curve Pay X (€5.99/month): about €450 a month of weekday foreign-currency spending, because 2.99% of the €200 above the free €250 is roughly €5.98.
- Apple Pay with your bank card: Apple adds €0 on any amount. What you pay abroad is your bank’s rate and fee — for example, with an illustrative 2% bank fee, a €400 purchase would cost €8 extra, exactly as with the plastic card.
Which to choose for…
Freelancers
Neither is a way to get paid. Curve holds no money and Apple Cash, Apple’s person-to-person service, is limited to the US. Use a multi-currency account to receive client payments — see Wise vs Revolut or ZEN vs Wise — and add its card to Apple Pay or link it to Curve for spending.
Travel
If your bank card already has no foreign-transaction fee, Apple Pay with that card is the simplest option. Curve helps when your cards are expensive abroad: you get £/€250 a month of fee-free conversion on the free plan, or £/€3,333 on Curve Pay X with no weekend fee, and you can switch the paying card later with “Go Back in Time”. Plan cash carefully on the free plan — every withdrawal is charged.
Business
For paying, company cards work in Apple Pay if the issuer supports it; Curve’s personal plans add a 1.5% fee on commercial cards (Pro+ includes a monthly fee-free allowance — £1,500 in Curve’s help centre — and Curve business accounts have no commercial card fees). For accepting payments, Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone lets a business take contactless payments with just an iPhone and a supported payment app.
Receiving payments from abroad
Neither wallet receives international transfers. You need an account with IBAN or local details — Wise, for example, provides free account details in 22 currencies — after which you can spend through Apple Pay or Curve. More options in our international payment apps guide.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Curve says its card makes any debit or credit card compatible with Apple Pay: you link your cards to Curve and add the Curve card to Apple Wallet. Curve’s fees then apply to those payments.
Only if you live in the EEA, your Apple ID is based in the EEA and your iPhone runs iOS 17.4 or later. Outside the EEA, including the UK, you cannot enrol in Curve Pay on iOS.
No. Apple states it does not charge any fees when you pay with Apple Pay in stores, online or in apps. Your card issuer may still charge its own fees.
Yes. Apple’s list of Apple Pay countries includes Ukraine, as well as Poland, Czechia and Germany. Your card must come from a participating bank. Curve, by contrast, is only for residents of the UK and the EEA.
Free plan: the first £/€250 per month is fee-free, then 2.99% on top of the Mastercard wholesale rate, plus 1.5% at weekends. Curve Pay X raises the allowance to £/€3,333 and charges 1% above it, with no weekend fee.
Apple Cash, which handles sending and receiving money, is only available in the 50 US states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico. Curve does not offer person-to-person transfers.
Both use device authentication. Apple says your card number is not stored on Apple servers or shared with merchants and payments are confirmed with Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode. Curve Pay requires a screen lock or biometrics and NFC turned on.