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It was launched as an alternative the wallet, enabling iPhone 6 users to tap their phone to pay for items.

But some Apple Pay users in the US have been double-charged for purchases.

The Californian tech giant has admitted there is a problem with its mobile payment system, but says it only affects 'a very small number' of Apple Pay users and is working to refund all faulty transactions.

Double trouble: Apple Pay was first announced on September 9th by Tim Cook and rolled out this week. But some users who are also customers of Bank of America have been charged twice for purchases made with their iPhone 6. Here, a user makes a purchase at the Disney Store in Glendale, California

Apple Pay launched this week. It stores Visa, MasterCard and American Express credit card information and works with the iPhone 6's touch ID fingerprint recognition system so users can touch their phone on a contactless reader to pay for goods.

It supports credit and debit cards from the three major payment networks - American Express, MasterCard and Visa - issued by the top US banks.

However, there has been an early glitch and it affects Apple Pay users who rely on Bank of America, CNN reported.

Apple Pay (screenshots pictured above) stores Visa, MasterCard and American Express credit card information and works with the iPhone 6's touch ID fingerprint recognition system so users can touch their phone on a contactless reader to pay for goods. Stores such as McDonalds, Macy's and Walgreensare involved

A number of these bank customers discovered their bank statement showed they have been making double payments for goods purchased with Apple Pay.

These customers include CNN reporter Samuel Burke who got in touch with the bank, which blamed Apple's system for the glitch.

Mr Burke wrote: 'I called up Bank of America and they assured me it was a problem on Apple Pay's end.

'That seemed feasible, because all of the purchases I made without Apple Pay were only charged one time.'

But Apple's customer service department passed him back to Bank of America, because the company doesn't keep records of names linked to transactions.

Upon launch, Apple Pay's focus on security and privacy was a big selling point, but Mr Burke said the situation of being passed between the two corporations was 'every consumer's worst nightmare'.

After talks, Bank of America agreed to refund his double payments. Around 1,000 people are thought to have been affected in total.

 Apple issued a statement saying: 'We're aware of a Bank of America issue impacting a very small number of Apple Pay users.

'They're working on a fix that will be available shortly and reversing any duplicate transactions.' 

Apple Pay is designed to protect the user's personal information. It doesn't collect any transaction information that can be tied back to a user and payment transactions are between the user, the merchant and the user's bank.

A number of Bank of America customers discovered their bank statement showed they have been making double payments for goods bought using Apple Pay. The bank's logo is pictured

The cards are stored in a passbook app (pictured left)  which is an area of the phone already used for boarding passes and tickets. Users can see their recent transactions in the app, and switch between cards easily. It was this feature that alerted some users that they had been charged twice for transactions

Apple doesn't collect its users' purchase history, so when they are shopping in a store or restaurant it doesn't know what they bought, where they bought it or how much they paid for it.

Card numbers are not stored on the device, instead, a unique Device Account Number is created, encrypted and stored in the Secure Element of the device.

The Device Account Number in the Secure Element is walled off from iOS and not backed up to iCloud.

Users can make purchases in stores and within apps, with credit cards issued by many US banks , which make up 83 percent of the credit card purchase volume in the country.

The mobile system works by holding phone up to a generic card reader and pressing a finger on the TouchID button. The NFC chip is fitted across the top of the phone.

All details are encrypted and the system stores payment information securely. It uses the Passbook app and cards that are already on file with iTunes can be saved to it.

Users can also take a picture of their own credit card and add it to the account. This is verified by the card's bank before being accepted.

If an iPhone is lost, users can suspend all payments via the Find my iPhone service. This won't cancel the cards, either, because the card details themselves are not stored on that device.

Apple said it is 'working hard' on bringing it to the UK, although a date has yet to be announced. 

WHERE YOU CAN USE APPLE PAY?

Apple Pay is accepted at hundreds of shops in the US - but not yet in the UK

In addition to the 262 Apple retail stores in the US, availability from leading retailers at launch include: Aéropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, Babies'R'Us, BJ's Wholesale Club, Bloomingdale's, Champs Sports, Chevron and Texaco retail stores including ExtraMile, Disney Store, Duane Reade, Footaction, Foot Locker, House of Hoops by Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Macy's, McDonald's, Nike, Office Depot, Panera Bread, Petco, RadioShack, RUN by Foot Locker, SIX:02, Sports Authority, SUBWAY, Toys'R'Us, Unleashed by Petco, Walgreens, Wegmans and Whole Foods Market. 

In addition, many others will add support this year, such as Anthropologie, Free People, Sephora, Staples, Urban Outfitters, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and more.