Android Pay

In the real world, people are paying for goods and services using their smartphones. This is due to mobile payment services. One option is Android Pay developed by Google, and it can be used in both Android smartphones and Android Wear-based smartwatches.

What is Android Pay?

Android Pay was first launched by Google in 2015 at its I/O developer conference and officially announced in few years later on September 11, 2015, in U.S. Android Pay is the fully mobile payment system and designed for people to purchase goods and services online in the real world.

Android Pay has expanded from banks and other financial institutes in various countries like UK, Canada, Ireland, Poland, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Belgium, Japan, Russia, and New Zealand.

Recently Google launches a separate payment service called Google Tez (Google Pay), it has a huge market of India. It has worked with the Indian government's Unified Payment Interface (UPI) for mobile transactions.

How does Android pay work?

Google's payment system uses a near field communication (NFC) technology on supported smartphones and smartwatches. The user stores their debit or credit card information on their Android Pay account.

When a user wants to pay for goods or services, he takes its phone or watches and places it near the retailer's point-of-sale (POS) terminal. A signal sent the payment information from the phone or watches to the POS terminal through NFC hardware.

How to set up Android Pay on your phone

If you want to use Android Pay on your smartphone and your bank or financial institute supports it, then it is quite easy to set up. You can download the Android Pay app form Google Play Store at this link click here.

Once you install the application, tap on the app, and hit "+" sign to add a debit or credit card of your supported bank. Sometimes many users see their debit or credit card is already available in the Android Pay app. This is because they used them to purchase the item via Google in the past.

How to set up Android Pay on your smartwatch

If your smartwatch has Android Wear 2.0 installed, then you can set it up to pay for goods and services via the Android Pay app. Once you set up Android Pay on your smartwatch, and then tap on it, and it will offer you an option to add a new card and direct you to use your phone. Enter the security, code and it should be available to use on your smartwatch.

How secure is Android Pay?

When you use your phone or watch to send a payment using Android Pay app to the NFC terminal, a randomly generated 16-digit number is sent, rather than your personal info and card. It means if the terminal or store you've used is hacked, your financial information should be safe.

One more thing is that the generated random number is stored in a cloud server, rather than on your phone for more protection. Finally, the payment is only sent out if your phone is working and unlocked. If the phone is locked and not in use, your account should be safe.

Where the Android Pay supported and what banks use it?

As we mentioned above, Android Pay is available in many countries, including U.S, UK, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Poland, Australia, Japan, Russia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Belgium, and New Zealand. More other countries plan to add this service in the future.

Here is the list of current banks and financial institutions which support Android Pay for each country. Keep in mind this list is continuously changing and expanding. So, if your bank is not on this list, it is possible that it will be added at some point in the future.

Click here for full list of banks.