Apple has quietly begun rolling out a much-anticipated change for its users in India: the return of credit and debit card payments for Apple Account purchases. After suspending the option more than four years ago, the company is now allowing eligible Visa and Mastercard cards to be added back for seamless payments toward iCloud+, Apple Music, App Store apps, and other digital subscriptions.
The phased rollout started recently and is expected to expand to more users over time. Apple has already updated its official support documentation to reflect the new capability.
Why It Was Removed — and Why It’s Back Now
In May 2022, Apple suspended card payments in India following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) updated framework for recurring transactions. The new rules introduced stricter authentication requirements, tokenized card credentials, and restrictions on merchants storing card details. Many global companies, including Apple, temporarily disabled card-based auto-debits while they worked on compliance.
During the interim period, Indian users relied primarily on UPI, net banking, and Apple Account balance top-ups. While these methods worked, they often added friction – especially for automatic subscription renewals.
“It’s long overdue but happening finally. This solves one of the friction points for subscription renewals,” said Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research. He told TechCrunch that Apple’s services business in India has continued growing at a double-digit pace despite the limitation, but restoring card payments will become increasingly important as the company’s installed base expands.
What This Means for Users and Apple
• For Indian customers: Greater convenience and fewer failed renewals. Users can now link their existing Visa and Mastercard credit or debit cards directly.
• For Apple: Stronger user retention and reduced churn on high-margin services revenue. It also demonstrates the company’s willingness to adapt its global payment infrastructure to local regulations.
This move is part of a broader pattern. Apple has been tailoring its services and App Store policies to country-specific rules in regions like Europe, Japan, and South Korea. In India, compliance with the RBI’s tokenized recurring payment standards appears to have been the key technical hurdle that’s now been cleared.
India represents one of Apple’s fastest-growing markets, driven by rising iPhone shipments and a young, digitally savvy population. Making payments easier should help accelerate adoption of Apple’s ecosystem services.
MacDailyNews Take: If you’re in India and haven’t seen the option yet, keep an eye on your Apple Account settings — the update is rolling out gradually. For the latest instructions, check Apple’s support page (recently updated for this change).
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