Activate a card

Last updated: December 10, 2025

The following cards must be activated before the cardholder can perform transactions:

Newly created physical cards
Virtual cards created using the API with "activate_card": false
Suspended cards

You can activate cards using:

The cardholder can activate the card in the following ways:

Performing their first Chip and PIN transaction at a point of sale (PoS) – This also enables the card for contactless payments.
Withdrawing cash from an ATM

The cardholder can access the card's personal identification number (PIN) in your mobile app, using the Android or iOS Card Management SDK. Alternatively, you can send them the PIN via mail.

Note

Cardholders cannot make contactless payments until after they perform a Chip and PIN transaction, even if the card is already successfully activated.

You must have one of the following user roles:

Admin
Support manager
A custom role with the Create and edit cards and cardholders; Simulate transactions permission

Sign in to the Dashboard.
Go to Issuing > Cards.
Select the card you want to activate.
In the Card details page, select Activate card.

Call the Activate a card endpoint, and provide the card ID prefixed with crd_ as the {cardId} path parameter.

post

https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/{cardId}/activate


1{
2  "_links": {
3    "self": {
4      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491"
5    },
6    "revoke": {
7      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491/revoke"
8    },
9    "suspend": {
10      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491/suspend"
11    }
12  }
13}

After you've integrated the Card Management Android SDK or iOS SDK, you can activate your cardholder's cards in your mobile app.

Follow these steps:

Call the getCards() method to get a list of the cardholder's cards:

Note

The getCards() method throws a CardManagementError which you must catch. For example, using catch (as in the example) or runCatching.

Note

From SDK version 3.0.0, all callback methods are deprecated. Update your integration to use suspending methods instead.


1// coroutineBased getCards which should be called in the context of a coroutineScope
2try {
3  cardManager.getCards()
4} catch (e: CardManagementError) {
5   when (error) {
6        is CardManagementError.Unauthenticated -> // Prompt sign in
7        is CardManagementError.ConnectionIssue -> // Show network error
8        else -> // Handle other errors
9    }
10}
11      
12// DEPRECATED using callbacks
13cardManager.getCards { result: Result<List<Card>> ->
14  result.onSuccess {
15    // You receive a list of cards that you can display in your UI
16    // Returned card details include last four digits of the PAN, expiry date, cardholder name, card status, and card ID
17  }.onFailure {
18    // If something goes wrong, you receive an error with more information
19  }
20}

Note

From SDK version 4.0.0, all callback methods are deprecated. Update your integration to use async methods instead.


1do {
2   let cards = try await cardManager.getCards()
3} catch let error as CardManagementError {
4  switch error {
5    case .authenticationFailure:
6      // handle authentication error
7    default: 
8      // default error handling. You can handle each error accordingly.
9  }
10}
11
12// DEPRECATED using completions
13cardManager.getCards { result in
14  switch result {
15  case .success(let cards):
16    // You receive a list of the cardholder's cards that you can display in your UI
17    // Returned card details include last four digits of the PAN, expiry date, cardholder name, card status, and card ID
18  case .failure(let error):
19    // If something goes wrong, you receive an error with more information
20  }
21}

Call the Card.possibleStateChanges() method to request the possible statuses you can change the card to:

Note

From SDK version 3.0.0, all callback methods are deprecated. Update your integration to use suspending methods instead.


1// Returns a list of possible statuses you can change the card to
2val possibleNewStates = card.possibleStateChanges
3
4// You can activate the card if the status was returned by possibleStateChanges
5if (possibleNewStates.contains(CardState.ACTIVE)) {
6  <coroutineScope> {
7    val result = card.activate()
8    handleCardStateTransition(result)
9  }
10
11 // DEPRECATED using callbacks
12  card.activate(completionHandler) 
13}

Note

From SDK version 4.0.0, all callback methods are deprecated. Update your integration to use async methods instead. All async methods throw a CardManagementError that you need to handle.


1import CheckoutCardManagement
2
3class YourObject {
4
5  // Returns a list of possible statuses you can change the card to
6let possibleNewStates = card.possibleStateChanges
7
8// You can activate the card if the status was returned by possibleStateChanges
9if possibleNewStates.contains(.active) {
10    do {
11       try await cardManager.activate()
12    } catch let error as CardManagementError {
13      // activation failed - handle error accordingly
14    }
15
16// DEPRECATED using completions
17if possibleNewStates.contains(.active) {
18    card.activate(completionHandler: cardStateChangeCompletion)
19}

Complete the change to active status:


1fun cardStateChangeCompletionHandler(result: Result<Unit>): Unit {
2  result
3    .onSuccess {
4      // The card status is successfully updated and reflected by both the back end and the SDK
5    }.onFailure {
6      // If something goes wrong, you receive an error with more details
7    }
8}


1func cardStateChangeCompletion(_ result: CheckoutCardManager.OperationResult) {
2    switch result {
3    case .success:
4        // The card status is successfully updated and reflected by both the back end and the SDK
5    case .failure(let error):
6        // If something goes wrong, you receive an error with more details
7    }
8}

You can set up webhooks to be notified when cards are activated:

Activate a card

Activation by cardholder

Note

Activate a card in the Dashboard

Activate a card using the API

Response example

Activate a card in your app

Note

Note

Note

Note

Note

Set up webhooks