Apple Pay Holdout Kroger Launches New 'Kroger Pay' Service

Popular grocery store chain Kroger has launched a new mobile payments service called Kroger Pay, which it will be using in lieu of Apple Pay.

According to a WCPO, a local Cincinnati news site, Kroger Pay launched in Columbus and Colorado today, but will be expanding to all Kroger stores by the end of the year.

krogerpay
Kroger Pay is QR-based, so to pay, users need to open up the app and generate a single-use QR code that's scanned at checkout when making a purchase.

Kroger customers can link any major debit or credit card to the Kroger Pay app, and it also includes a Kroger Rewards debit card for earning fuel points and other rewards with purchases.

"Kroger Pay is one of the few mobile wallets that pairs loyalty and payment," said Mary Ellen Adcock, group vice president of operations. "The application of this exciting technology is another step in our front-end experience transformation."

With Kroger embracing its own payment solution, it looks like the grocery store chain has no plans to introduce support for ‌Apple Pay‌. Kroger did test support for ‌Apple Pay‌ in stores that support contactless payments, but reportedly discontinued the program "due to little interest by customers."

Kroger in 2018 told a Reddit user that it did not have plans to implement ‌Apple Pay‌ in any of its stores.

Kroger has been working on its payments service for more than two years, and has been accepting the Chase Pay digital wallet since 2017.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

ios 19 messages app

Apple Sues Jon Prosser Over iOS 26 Leaks

Thursday July 17, 2025 8:40 pm PDT by
Earlier this year, YouTuber Jon Prosser shared multiple videos showing off what he claimed to be re-created renderings of what was then presumed to be called iOS 19 and which was eventually unveiled by Apple as iOS 26 at WWDC in June. In his first video back in January, Prosser showed off a Camera app redesign with a simpler set of buttons for moving between photo and video modes, and he...
iPhone 17 Colors

All 15 New iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Colors Revealed in Latest Leak

Wednesday July 16, 2025 6:50 am PDT by
We may finally have a definitive list of all color options for the iPhone 17 series, ahead of the devices launching in September. MacRumors concept In a report for Macworld today, Filipe Espósito said he obtained an "internal document" that allegedly reveals all of the color options for the upcoming iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max models. The report includes ...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Here's When to Expect the iOS 26 Public Beta

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:07 am PDT by
Apple previously announced that a public beta of iOS 26 would be available in July, and now a more specific timeframe has surfaced. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said that Apple's public betas should be released on or around Wednesday, July 23. In other words, expect the public betas of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and more to be available at some point next week. Apple will be releasing...
iPhone 17 Pro Dark Blue and Orange

Ranked: The Best Features Rumored for the iPhone 17 Lineup

Wednesday July 16, 2025 4:17 pm PDT by
We have just under two months to go until the debut of Apple's iPhone 17 models, and rumors have been ramping up in recent weeks. We went through everything we know so far, pulling out the most exciting rumors and highlighting some other changes that aren't going to be so great. Top Tier Ultra Thin iPhone 17 Air - The iPhone 17 Air is 2025's most exciting iPhone rumor, because it's the...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Foldable iPhone's Thickness and Price Range Detailed in New Reports

Wednesday July 16, 2025 11:31 am PDT by
Apple's long-rumored foldable iPhone will likely have a starting price between $1,800 and $2,000 in the U.S., analysts at investment banking firm UBS said this week. If so, the foldable iPhone would cost more than a MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,599. With a starting price of at least $1,800, the foldable iPhone would be the most expensive iPhone model ever released, topping the Pro Max at...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...

Top Rated Comments

nibfiledotcom Avatar
84 months ago

Kroger in 2018 told a Reddit user ('https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplePay/comments/8cgu5t/kroger_and_apple_pay/') that it did not have plans to implement Apple Pay in any of its stores.
You don’t implement Apple Pay; Apple and the banks already implemented it. You simply allow Apple Pay to work, along with every other contactless payment method out there.

Starting in 2020, both Visa and MasterCard will require merchants accepting payments via their networks to support contactless payment at all Point-of-Sale terminals in almost every market in the United States. The fallout from that should be interesting, because there are still more than a few large-scale retailers like Kroger who insist on implementing their own payment schemes so they can continue to harvest your data.

For now, I’ll be shopping exclusively at Giant Eagle instead. This is exactly how Walgreens got my loyalty, too.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mikep976 Avatar
84 months ago
Going the wrong way there Kroger...

Also, if you saw “little interest from customers” with Apple Pay, why would you think they would want to pull out their phone, open the app, wait for it to load, click to open the QR Code, and then have it scan.... versus just tapping their iPhone or Watch? This just screams “we want your data how we want it, not the privacy focused Apple way.”
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Packdude Avatar
84 months ago
LOL, there was so 'little interest by customers' that they decided to spend 2 years working on their own app. Nice try Kroger.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannyyankou Avatar
84 months ago
"Kroger Pay is one of the few mobile wallets that pairs loyalty and payment,"

Um Apple Pay can do this too
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Trippy Bear Avatar
84 months ago
Another DOA pay system lol
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mattyj2001 Avatar
84 months ago
I'll give them another two years before they support Apple Pay, if not sooner if any type of data breach occurs due to their archaic QR based system.

Someone at Kroger should talk to someone at Target to find out why they suddenly are abandoning Target Wallet and starting to support all the major contactless payment systems ...
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)