Most of us leave the house carrying three essentials: keys, wallet, and smartphone. Over the past few years, this has been simplified further.
Your smartphone can save your financial details and use them to make secure, instant, contactless payments in selected stores. Life becomes far more simpler by waving your mobile at the checkout.
It’s safe and easy to get set up, quicker than you might think. In fact, you probably have most of what you need already installed on your phone.
If someone steals your credit card, they have access to your money both online and in physical stores. But not with your smartphone. If someone stole your phone, they would need your passcode, fingerprint or face to complete a payment, so if your phone is locked, so is your money.
The technology behind app-based payment platforms is called NFC or Near Field Communication. It is an industry standard and both Google and Apple use it for their own services, Google wallet and Apple Pay.
Whenever you wave your phone on a payment terminal, you don’t actually share your card details. NFC simply confirms your device is authorised to make a payment on your behalf using an encrypted code. This means your phone will safely store your card details and it won’t share them with any third parties.