Problem 1 of 5 · Nobody sees the deadline
One list of everything about to expire.
TodayEach problem shows up only when something has already broken.
Tried firstA red badge on each shop’s page. Nobody checks 400 pages for badges.
Hi, I’m Deniz. A product designer at Apple, on Apple Pay.
I make complicated systems feel simple: the parts nobody notices until they break. Most of my work is the quiet side of payments, the tools that keep checkout working.
Say hello.
Happy to talk about payments, internal tools and design systems.
An internal tool that warns Apple’s support team before a shop’s Apple Pay breaks: what is about to expire, who can fix it, and exactly what is wrong.

01The story
Tuesday, 08:00
02Why it happened
03How it broke
04It keeps happening
“We are having trouble trying to renew our Apple Pay Merchant Identity Certificate.”
“successful only when both the previous Merchant Identity and Payment Processing certificates are revoked”
“both key-pairs (private keys) remain active on their side”
“No popup errors are shown, no console developer error”
05What it needed
Make sure every deadline has a person watching it, and make the risky step impossible to do too early.
06Five fixes
Problem 1 of 5 · Nobody sees the deadline
TodayEach problem shows up only when something has already broken.
Tried firstA red badge on each shop’s page. Nobody checks 400 pages for badges.
Problem 2 of 5 · Warnings reach nobody
TodayApple emails one address, often an old one nobody reads.
Problem 3 of 5 · Old key turned off too early
TodayShops turn off the old key in their own account too soon, and payments stop.
Tried firstA warning in the support tool. The mistake happens in the shop’s account, not ours.
Key discoveryThe only proof a new key works is one real payment made with it.
Problem 4 of 5 · Website check fails silently
TodayThe check fails, and nothing says why.
Tried firstShow Apple’s raw result. “Verification failed” is all shops see today.
Problem 5 of 5 · Support starts from zero
Today“It stopped working” could mean a dozen things.
Tried firstA form asking the shop for details. It asks the person who knows the least.
07The hard call
08The same Tuesday
Tuesday, 08:00. Nothing happens.
09How I’d measure it
10Looking back
