Mobile Payment Apps

Have you guys ever heard of the term "mobile payments"? If you guys are wondering, it's basically using your phone to pay for stuff. If you guys want to know how then here is a list of apps to help you get started.

Apple Pay & Android Pay

You guys might of heard or use both of these apps. The reason why I put both of these apps in one category because they are both the same app but on different platforms, Apple pay works on Apple devices and Android pay works on Android devices. They both use the same chip that allows the phones to make transactions, NFC. Both apps use tokenization and a one time card number that is different for each transaction, if a company gets hacked your bank account won't get affected. I seriously recommend setting up and downloading one of these apps, depending on your device, to get started with mobile payments

Samsung Pay

Samsung Pay is the Korean tech giant's way of competing with Apple pay, and I think they are winning. Unlike Apple or Android pay, Samsung pay uses both NFC and MST or Magnetic Secure Transmission, it basically mimics the signal of the black magnetic strip of your credit or debit card. By using this, Samsung pay is accepted everywhere unlike NFC where merchants need to install a NFC Payment terminal. For those who are wonder, Samsung pay and Android pay will work on Samsung devices no matter which app you have installed. Samsung Pay also uses tokenization and one time credit card numbers so if a business gets hacked, you're safe. Samsung pay is only available on Galaxy S6 devices and above.

Starbucks

If you guys ever used the Starbucks app and used your Starbucks card on the app to pay for your drink, you basically just made a transaction with with mobile payment. This is probably the way people get introduced to mobile payments, with Starbucks. This app is available for Android and iPhone and you use your Starbucks card to make a transaction so your credit/debit card is safe.

Walmart

Walmart recently announced that they will start accepting a mobile payment service called Walmart pay. Walmart will be integrated Walmart pay into its app and it's slowly rolling out to Walmart stores now. In order to pay you set up a card on the app and scan a QR code before your start to checkout, the QR code will pop up on the card reader or the screen at self checkout. The Walmart app is available for Android and iPhone but when you set up a card a $1 will be taken out of your account.