Thanks to Apple Pay, Apple’s new mobile payment service, you can pay for purchases using the recently announced iPhone 6 or the brand new wearable device, Apple Watch. The new mobile payment service works via a NFC antenna, a dedicated chip called the Secure Element, and the Touch ID fingerprint recognition technology.

Here's how you can securely pay for physical goods and services in stores with just the touch of a finger with Apple Pay: hold your iPhone near the contactless reader while keeping a finger on Touch ID. That's it! you don't have to unlock your iPhone or launch an app.

You will, of course, have to add your credit or debit card details for Apple Pay to work; they’re already on file in your iTunes Store account. It must be mentioned here that three major payment networks are supported: American Express, MasterCard and Visa. And more to the point, American Express, MasterCard and Visa cards issued by the nation’s most popular banks, including Bank of America, Capital One Bank, Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo.

Once you have Apple Pay all set up, you will be able to use it to purchase items from:

• All 258 Apple retail stores in the US.
• Bloomingdale’s, Disney Store and Walt Disney World Resort, Duane Reade, Macy’s, McDonald’s, Sephora, Staples, Subway, Walgreens, Whole Foods Market, and other leading national retailers.
• Over 220,000 merchant locations across the US that have contactless payment enabled.
• Make purchases through apps in the App Store.

For security reasons, your credit or debit card details are not stored on your Apple device or on Apple’s servers. Instead of storing your card details, Apple Pay assigns them a unique Device Account Number and then stores it in the dedicated chip called the Secure Element. When you pay for something, the transaction is authorized with a one-time unique number using the aforementioned Device Account Number. To validate the transaction, Apple Pay doesn’t use the security code from the back of your card; it securely validates the transaction by creating a dynamic security code.

“Security and privacy is at the core of Apple Pay. When you’re using Apple Pay in a store, restaurant or other merchant, cashiers will no longer see your name, credit card number or security code, helping to reduce the potential for fraud,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Apple doesn’t collect your purchase history, so we don’t know what you bought, where you bought it or how much you paid for it. And if your iPhone is lost or stolen, you can use Find My iPhone to quickly suspend payments from that device.”

Apple Pay is only available in the US.