Install and set up

Complete these core setup steps one time, then integrate the payment methods you need.

Prerequisites

You'll need the following before integrating the SDK:

• A PayPal developer account, a client ID, and your merchant ID from the PayPal Developer Dashboard.
• A server-side integration that can create and capture orders with the Orders v2 API. For vault flows, your server must create setup tokens and payment tokens with the Payment Method Tokens v3 API.
• Universal Links configured for your return URL before testing.
• Xcode 15+, iOS 16+, Swift 5.9+.

1. Add the SDK

The SDK ships as per-feature products. Add only what you use. Add FraudProtection, which provides device data used to reduce declines, plus the product for each payment method you integrate. With CocoaPods:

# Podfile
pod 'PayPal/CorePayments'
pod 'PayPal/FraudProtection'      # device data (risk signals)

# Add the product(s) for the method(s) you integrate:
pod 'PayPal/PayPalPayments'       # PayPal Checkout + Vault
pod 'PayPal/PaymentButtons'       # PayPal buttons
# pod 'PayPal/CardPayments'       # Card (ACDC)

Or add the paypal-ios Swift Package and include the matching products.

2. Initialize CoreConfig

You build every client (PayPalClient, CardClient) from a single CoreConfig. No network calls occur at initialization.

Replace <YOUR_CLIENT_ID> and <YOUR_MERCHANT_ID> with your actual values:

let config = CoreConfig(
    clientID:    "<YOUR_CLIENT_ID>",
    environment: .sandbox,               // .live for production
    merchantID:  "<YOUR_MERCHANT_ID>",   // Required, encrypted merchant account ID
    bnCode:      nil                     // Partner integrations only
)

Reuse this config across every method client. Switch .sandbox to .live for production.

3. Register your return links

PayPal checkout sends the buyer to the PayPal app, or an in-app browser, and back to your app through a Universal Link. In App Target › Signing & Capabilities › Associated Domains, add applinks:example.com and serve your AASA file at https://example.com/.well-known/apple-app-site-association. One domain covers both your return and cancel URLs.

Register the custom-scheme fallback under CFBundleURLTypes, and declare the PayPal app scheme under LSApplicationQueriesSchemes so the SDK can detect it. fallbackSchemeURL is optional on PayPalURLConfig, but set it regardless. Without it, a buyer whose Universal Link fails to open your app has no way back to checkout:

<key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
        <array><string>merchantapp</string></array>
    </dict>
</array>
<key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
<array>
    <string>paypal</string>
</array>

Define the matching URL config one time to pass to each method's session or checkout call:

let urlConfig = PayPalURLConfig(
    returnAppURL:      URL(string: "https://example.com/merchant-app/return")!,
    cancelAppURL:      URL(string: "https://example.com/merchant-app/cancel")!,
    fallbackSchemeURL: URL(string: "merchantapp://return")   // Optional; see note above
)

Next steps

Integrate a payment method:

• PayPal Checkout: one-time checkout, save payment methods with or without purchase, Pay Later, and PayPal Credit.
• Card (ACDC): card payments and saving cards.