You’re a very brave man! First thing I did when I got my X was to put a case around it - can’t risk it dropping and smashing to pieces!
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Apple Pay is really handy. Also for everyones notes, there is no limit to Apple Pay. Because it so secure you can use Apple Pay for any amount. For example I used Apple Pay on a £150 Sainsbury sho
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It isn’t really because it is ‘so secure’ tho. It’s because it supports cardholder verification. Even a physical card can support higher amounts with online PIN or signature (tho many banks will decline signature contactless preferring you insert for offline PIN).
It also isn’t ‘any amount’, as normal anti-fraud measures apply.
But then iPhone doesn’t is stable when lying on it back. It’s so annoying. Get rid of the nipple then without case will be best.
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This limit doesn’t apply to Android either. The £30 limit is usually a limit set on the card reader, my local Tesco won’t let you do contactless, apple pay, or android pay if the transaction goes over £30.
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There are a few places like that. It’s a pain. I tend now only to use Apple Pay in places I’ve used it before. It’s otherwise just as easy to use a card (which sits all alone in an Oyster card wallet for ease of use).
The limit is technically a CVM waiver limit for contactless, meaning shops don’t need to complete cardholder verification up to £30. It’s not an absolute limit on contactless.
There’s a few places the limit can be enforced:
- The terminal can refuse taps for more than £30 - like Tesco (they still do this?).
- The bank can decline the transaction (which will follow normal CVM processing rules above £30, per the CVM list on the contactless interface - which in the case of Monzo is: online PIN, signature, no CVM). This is unlikely if online PIN is used, but more likely if signature or no CVM is used. Please note that shops rarely support online PIN in the UK, and signature is likely to be declined (but @anon44204028 has reported using it without issue for Monzo).
- The terminal could recognise CDCVM wasn’t supported and refuse to proceed. I’ve never heard of this, and don’t know if it’d even be allowed per network rules, but technically it could happen (configure the kernel to only support CDCVM, though even then it would in theory go online with CVM processing failed).
What Apple Pay, Android Pay and even some new cards bring is CDCVM - the device itself can act as the CVM (through fingerprint, face, on-screen PIN, etc). Thus, the no CVM limit becomes irrelevant (except on Android Pay, where it applies if you don’t unlock your phone first - this is possible to make public transit easier, and doesn’t work in all markets).
In general, I think shops in the UK without CDCVM support do this. After all, if you don’t support online PIN or CDCVM, and most banks decline signature contactless, why allow the taps at all?
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I suspect they’d prefer everyone to use TescoPay+ which always works up to £120 I believe.
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The thing is, Tesco did some major updates this summer to allow for contactless Clubcards and to allow Amex mobile wallets to work (they were hit by a bug with Amex on iPP 350s that prevented mobile wallets from working - lots of shops were hit, but Boots and Co-Op fixed it very quickly - McDonald’s and Tesco took two years…).
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For all those that say its convenient to use Apple Pay, what happens why you run out of batteries on your mobile device that you use Apple Pay on?
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Then I need to dig out my wallet 
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You use your card…but we’re talking about convenience and the ideal, not your ability to keep your phone charged.
Haha, it is very risky and I have been close to dropping it a few times. Fortunately it costs a significant amount less to repair or replace on the iPhone Upgrade Programme, but even then maybe I’ll end up using a case eventually. It’s just the back looks so pretty 
Fortunately I don’t use my phone while it’s lying on its back, but for those who do, I certainly understand that point.
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That never happens to me and many others, especially with the iPhone X (the battery life is incredible on that compared to the 7). If my phone battery happens to go, I can always use my Apple Watch for Apple Pay (even on the Series 1 the Watch doesn’t require a connection to the phone for Apple Pay). Running out of battery is simply not going to happen for those of us who have both devices, and for many who have one device, especially now iPhones support wireless charging and there are wireless charging stations popping up in cafes and things now.
I don’t fully understand what you mean—I need to look into what “online PIN” and things are. Would this essentially mean I could tap my Monzo card on the terminal for any amount (within anti-fraud limits or whatever) without entering a PIN or signing anything?
Even if that were the case, I’d still have to carry a card in my pocket as well as my phone (along with maybe a bulky wallet to keep it safe), despite my phone being capable of doing everything the card can.
Two things are stopping me from getting rid of my Oyster card:
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No travelcard discount applied to contactless. They’ve said it was coming for ages but still nothing. It saves me a huge amount over the course of a month/year.
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As I would pay on my credit card (to maximise points), I need an easy way of seeing what I’ve paid for the week/month so I know how much I need to pay back. Say, an email on Monday morning highlighting how much I’ve been charged in the previous week. My credit card app is really out of date (in terms of transactions and balances), so I have to rely on manually recording all my spending on a finance app.
Basically, what would be great is a digital Oyster, which lives on Apple Wallet, that I can use like a contactless card on Apple Pay. I can’t see it happening…but a boy can dream!
Online PIN means the PIN is verified ‘online’ over the Mastercard network instead of ‘offline’ by the card itself. Contactless doesn’t support offline PIN since the card is not still there to check the PIN. Most British shops don’t support this, but those that do allow contactless+PIN for over £30.
The next choice is signature if online PIN isn’t possible. Most shops support this, but I’d expect most banks to decline @anon44204028 has used this with Monzo successfully tho. I see no benefit, personally. Surely signing is more effort than inserting and typing your PIN.
It’s unlikely you could tap for over £30 with your Monzo card and not need a PIN or signature, due to the configuration.
Some new cards do, however, support this by having on-card CDCVM with a fingerprint scanner. This means that you hold the fingerprint scanner on the card and it verifies you - just like how Apple Pay and Android Pay work.
As for convenience, it really depends on phone habits. For me, the convenience is because my phone is always in my hand, whereas I’d have to dig my wallet out of my handbag to use it.
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I’m the same as you and won’t be getting rid of my Oyster anytime soon as get railcard discount.
FWIW, as for the section I quote, you can register any contactless card through the TfL Oyster portal and view journeys / generate statements for your travel that way! Quite useful.
Yeah, I actually got rid of my Oyster before and used my contactless for about a year (thought the convenience was worth the loss of a discount). But I didn’t like having to keep remembering to check my TfL account every week - it just became a bit tiring (I do my credit card payments every week). What would be great is an email, so I can have it as a ‘receipt’ of the week and add to my expenses. TfL said they were looking into it but no news so far.