Tech titan Apple has turned to Alipay for verification services of education discounts (in Chinese), as reported by Chinese media source ITHome.

Apple relies on verification services from UNiDAYS to determine if a user is eligible for their educational product and subscription discounts.

However, this method of verification has seen exploitation in China, with numerous non-student users opting to purchase a UNiDAYS account via significant e-commerce platforms, such as Taobao, in an effort to gain discounts or additional perks like complimentary AirPods.

Alipay maintains a stringent procedure for verifying student identification, which includes uploading academic reports generated by the Ministry of Education’s online system.

This transition is currently limited to the Apple Store operations in mainland China. The option to use a UNiDAYS account for purchasing Apple Music at a 50% discount, translating to a monthly fee of RMB 5 ($0.69), remains available, as per the outlet report.