How to Enable Apple Pay and Google Pay for Crypto Purchases in Australia

Australia is one of the most crypto-forward countries on the planet. Over 31% of Australians have owned cryptocurrency, adoption is outpacing the United States, and mobile wallet payments already account for 44% of all in-store transactions.

And yet, most crypto apps in Australia still ask users to jump through hoops just to buy their first token. Think manual card entry, clunky bank transfer flows, and redundant KYC checks. That’s when the drop-offs happen. Familiar payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay fix that.

Consider what a typical first-time crypto purchase looks like today. The user downloads your app, creates an account, goes through identity verification, then lands on a payment screen that asks them to manually type in a 16-digit card number, expiry date, and CVV. If they're on mobile (and most are), this is where a significant chunk of potential users quietly abandon the flow.

Now compare that to what they're used to. Ordering coffee? Tap. Splitting dinner? Tap. Buying concert tickets? Tap. Apple Pay and Google Pay have trained an entire generation of Australians to expect one-tap checkout. When your app doesn't offer that, it sets off alarms.

Apps that integrate familiar payment methods into their onramp flows consistently see conversion rates jump by 30–50%. That's the difference between a user who tries your app and a user who actually buys their first crypto.

Nearly one in two device-present transactions in Australia are now made through mobile wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay. Apple Pay alone has a 39% penetration rate among payment services users in Australia, and around 65% of mobile payment market share. Google Pay adoption runs almost identically, with both platforms showing nearly equal user counts in the country.

This means your Australian users already have their cards stored, their biometrics set up, and their muscle memory trained for this. Enabling Apple Pay and Google Pay on your crypto purchase flow lets users do what they already do, just for a different asset class.

There's also a trust dimension here. For crypto-curious Australians who haven't made their first purchase yet (14.3% of Australians wanted to invest in crypto but refrained), seeing the Apple Pay or Google Pay button at checkout is a signal of legitimacy. It tells them this is a real, recognizable transaction, not something sketchy happening on the fringes of the internet.

Here's what the flow looks like for your users after integrating Transak:

1. User opens your app and selects the crypto they want to buy
2. They enter the AUD amount they want to spend
3. They choose Apple Pay or Google Pay as their payment method
4. They authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or their device PIN
5. Crypto lands in their wallet

Transak is registered with AUSTRAC as a Digital Currency Exchange (DCE). This means when your users purchase crypto in your app, every transaction runs through a fully compliant, regulated pipeline. You get the benefit of AUSTRAC-compliant operations without having to obtain and maintain the registration yourself.

Importantly, over 100,000 Australians are already KYC-verified on Transak through the 450+ apps that use it as their onramp provider. When those users encounter Transak in your app, they don't need to verify again. They log in, and they're ready to buy.

Most teams choose one of these:

1. Hosted checkout (Widget / redirect): fastest to ship, minimal engineering
2. Embedded SDK: keeps users in-app with more control over UX
3. White-label integration: maximum flexibility for power flows and deeper orchestration

In Transak, Apple Pay and Google Pay typically work as “wallet-based card” experiences, so users can pay using the cards already linked to their device wallet, with fewer steps than manual card entry.

From a UX perspective, the key is placement:

• Show Apple Pay and Google Pay as first-class buttons, not buried under “Card”
• Default to the best option based on device (Apple Pay on iOS, Google Pay on Android)

Transak supports multi-level KYC, so your flow can match your audience:

• Lite KYC for “let me try this” users
• Standard KYC for mainstream onboarding
• Enhanced KYC for higher limits and advanced use cases

This is how you keep the first purchase lightweight while still supporting serious users as they scale.

Before going live, check:

• Apple Pay and Google Pay appear early in the payment selection
• Your token + chain defaults are AU-relevant (what your users actually want)
• Fees, quotes, and settlement expectations are clearly shown
• Support links and status messages are accessible inside the flow

Here's something that makes a real difference to conversion rates, especially if your app already verifies user identities.

Every crypto onramp requires some form of KYC. Normally, that means your users go through identity verification on your platform, and then have to do it all over again when they try to buy crypto through the onramp provider. Two separate verification flows. Two sets of document uploads. Two selfie checks. It's the kind of redundancy that makes users question why they bothered.

Transak's KYC Reliance feature eliminates this entirely. If your app already performs identity verification (particularly through Sumsub), you can pass your users' verified KYC data directly to Transak via API. Transak instantly creates and verifies the customer's record on its side, and the user can immediately place orders with zero additional verification steps.

Partners using KYC Reliance report 50–60% improvement in end-to-end conversion rates. Your users complete KYC once, on your platform, and never see another verification screen when they go to buy crypto.

If you’re enabling fiat-to-crypto purchases, you’re touching regulated territory. AUSTRAC requires digital currency exchange providers to be registered, and customer identification obligations apply. Partners typically want a compliant onramp so they don’t have to become one.

In general, no. Once approved, users can reuse their Transak account across partner integrations.

Yes. KYC Reliance is designed for that, so eligible users can be verified faster by securely sharing KYC outcomes.