Apple may have reported more than a million activations of Apple Pay, but that doesn’t mean every retailer out there supports the company’s mobile payment system. In fact, some stores are willfully removing NFC technology from their payment terminals to block the service. It can be hard to know which stores accept Apple’s mobile payment system. This is where Chameleon for iOS comes in. It’s an in-store shopping app that lets you know what retailers support Apple Pay.
However, scanning stores to see which ones support Apple Pay’s tap-to-pay function isn’t the app’s only feature. Chameleon also lets you search for certain brand name products in stores. If the app finds the product in question, it even lets you know which aisle it’s located in. Chameleon can check real-time inventory levels when you’re not sure if a product is in stores yet, or if demand for it is high. Additionally, you can scan barcodes to perform a price check, and then the app lets you know where there are better deals for the same product.
Chameleon manages to give you such highly specific results thanks to partnerships with over 30 major U.S. retailers, including Macy’s, Target, Petco, and Toys “R” Us. The partnership goes beyond simply letting you locate products, as you can earn points to redeem toward gift cards just by entering a participating store. However, if the store you’re shopping at doesn’t partner with Chameleon, many of its features won’t work.
Unfortunately for Android fans, Chameleon is an iOS-exclusive, but if you do have an iPhone, it’s a free download on the App Store.