Garminwearables can be a little bewildering at first, especially some of the higher-endsmartwatchmodels. The company likes to cram in as many software features as possible, to the point where it’s not always clear what everything does. It can take days or even weeks to get a full grasp on everything.

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You probably have a basic sense of what Garmin Pay is – but how does it work? And more importantly, where can you use it, and which devices are supported?

The Apple Watch on a wrist in front of a blurred green background.

What is Garmin Pay, and how does it work?

The short version of what Garmin Pay is that it’s the company’s equivalent ofApple PayorGoogle Wallet. It lets you make credit or debit payments at compatible businesses without pulling out a physical card, or even your phone. In fact, there’s no phone- or desktop-based version of Garmin Pay to speak of – it’s mostly meant to let you go for a run or breeze through a commute without worrying about whether you’ve got cash in your pocket. More on the commute part later.

You can add a card to Garmin Pay via theGarmin Connect mobile app, which syncs them securely with your watch. To make a payment, you selectWalletfrom your watch’s Controls menu, then enter a passcode if it’s been 24 hours since you last used Garmin Pay or you’ve taken off your watch since then. At that point, you can bring your watch near an NFC payment terminal, or switch cards first if you don’t want to use the most recently selected one.

A woman brings her Garmin watch near an NFC terminal

How to set up Garmin Pay

The process is relatively easy on Garmin’s end, but could be more complicated depending on the bank(s) your cards are associated with.

Which devices support Garmin Pay?

Quite a few do. You can filter for compatibility onGarmin’s web store, but here’s what was compatible as of July 2024:

Which banks support Garmin Pay?

The list of compatible banks is too long to share here, but Garmin maintains anactive rosteryou can sort by region and card issuer (Visa, Mastercard, etc.). The feature is available in many countries around the world, including of course places like Australia, Canada, the US, and the UK.

Which retailers support Garmin Pay?

There’s no comprehensive list of retailers, but if Garmin Pay works in your country and a payment terminal supports other NFC standards like Apple Pay, you’re probably good to go. Look for an icon indicating wireless support.

Speaking of which, Garmin Pay can be used to pay for rides on select public transit systems. Here’s the list as of July 2024:

A hand pushes buttons while the Garmin Forerunner 965 is on a wrist.

China (via UnionPay)

United Kingdom

United States

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Vancouver-SkyTrain