Android Pay Launches Today, Allows Millions of Retailers to Pay With Your Phone
If you thought the new Google Wallet app was confusing this morning , we now know why: Google has ditched Android Pay , its NFC phone payment service, and is launching it today among users and retailers across the country.
If you’re confused, here’s a quick summary:
- Google Wallet will continue to exist as a way to manage your physical Google Wallet card, and to send and receive money (a la Venmo, Square Cash, and other similar services ).
- On the other hand, Android Pay is Google’s new payment system designed to make it easier to digitize your payment methods, use your Android smartphone to pay for purchases both online and in stores, and in-app payments. purchases.
Android Pay will work on any NFC-enabled Android device running KitKat (Android 4.4) or later with every mobile operator and retail store with an NFC payment terminal that supports the service. In Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), you can also use the device’s fingerprint reader to authorize purchases. You will be able to add your debit card and credit cards (including American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa) to the service and choose which one you want to pay in the payment terminal. Most major banks and credit unions receive support out of the box, although Citi and Wells Fargo will be available “in the coming days,” and according to Google, if you don’t see your bank listed now, it’s on the way.
Android Pay currently only operates in the US, and today it is rolling out to Google accounts and is supported by over a million retailers nationwide (although out of that million retailers, there are now only about 63 individual companies on the list, as you can see in the picture above.)
When Android Pay was announced on Google I / O earlier this year , most people saw it as a way to modernize Google Wallet and turn it into a real competitor to Apple Pay, which people saw as “being able to pay for things with a mobile phone. the real world ”, first, and the way you organize your credit cards and rewards, second. Compared to Google Wallet, which has always been useful but never widely adopted by retailers or users, this shift – albeit a little confusing – means at least Android users will be able to pay for their phones as well as use others. the benefits of Google Wallet at the same time. Click on the links below to find out more.
Android Pay | via official blog Android and Ars Technica