Payment App

Pay With Your Phone: The Best Apps

Want to pay with your smartphone but don’t know how? Here are some of the most popular mobile payment apps in France and how they work. Pay with your phone in shops, bars, supermarkets or on the Internet, thanks to dedicated applications that allow you to use your phone like a credit card: a fast system and much easier and safer than some people think . In times of pandemic, it is also more hygienic and recommended to pay at the checkout in contactless mode , by placing the phone on a reader ( or to pay directly online ) rather than handling bank cards.or cash. Here’s a helpful guide to the best smartphone digital payment apps: which are the most popular and reliable, and how they work.

Apple Pay

Let’s start with Apple Pay , the contactless payment system developed by Apple for its mobile devices. People with iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch and Macs can take advantage of the Wallet application and NFC technology ( to put the device in contact with a compatible point of sale ), for secure payments and fast. Activating Apple Pay is very simple: just go to Wallet, click on Add a card and follow the instructions.

With Apple Pay, you can pay with your phone in stores, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, taxis, ATMs and anywhere the service is enabled. Anyone with an iPhone with Face ID or Touch ID ( except iPhone 5s ) can use Apple Pay. When paying at checkout, simply place the iPhone on the POS and authorize the transaction via Touch or Face ID. The service supports debit and credit cards from many institutions and circuits: MasterCard, Maestro, Visa, UniCredit, N26, Hype, to name a few.

PayPal

It is a great classic founded in 1999 by Elon Musk and bought by eBay in 2002, a company subsequently spun off and listed on the stock exchange since 2015, PayPal ( pronounced as it is written, and not “Pay-Pol” ) offers the world’s most popular internet payment service.

PayPal allows you to transact online without having to reveal your bank details or credit card number to anyone. A credit card ( up to 8 ), prepaid card or bank account is associated with the account. It is also possible to receive sums of money from friends, family members or strangers, and to carry out collections online thanks to the Piggy Bank service which allows you to share a link on Facebook, WhatsApp , email or SMS from which users can send money which is then uploaded to the PayPal account .

Although you’re more likely to have used or are using PayPal for online purchases or peer-to-peer transactions, you can also pay with your phone at stores that display the contactless payment symbol. You must have a PayPal account and download the Vodafone Wallet app on an Android device with an NFC SIM card. Here are the steps to follow:

  • Add your PayPal account in the payments section of the app
  • Log in with your PayPal account username and password
  • Create a 4-digit NFC PIN to use for payments over €25
  • Pay by holding your smartphone up to the contactless reader, without even opening the app.

Google Pay

The mobile payment application for Android devices is Google Pay , which is already predefined on smartphones. This payment system is widely accepted in stores and e-commerce. It is considered safer than using a traditional credit card because the number is not sent and is protected by multi-level security encryption .

Users can link credit, debit and prepaid cards ( Visa, MasterCard or Maestro circuit ) to their Google account and activate the Google Pay option when they want to pay . To pay with your phone, it is not necessary to unlock it or launch the application, as all you have to do is place the smartphone on the card reader and authenticate it by biometric recognition.

Samsung Pay

Launched in 2018, Samsung Pay is the application for paying via Samsung smartphones and smartwatches. It is already pre-installed on almost all Galaxy models or you can download it from the Galaxy Store. It is compatible with many banks and card circuits: MasterCard, Maestro, Visa, V Pay, UniCredit, HelloBank!, and more than 150 Nexi partner banks.

Samsung Pay supports contactless payments via NFC or MST (for paying at POS terminals that only support physical cards). You can also pay with your phone in the metro in Paris: just bring your smartphone, even with the screen off, to the turnstiles allowing contactless payment at the entrance and exit.

To activate Samsung Pay, you must have the app , sign up for the service with your Samsung account, select ‘ Add card ‘ to register your card, frame it and follow the instructions to complete the setup. When you pay with Samsung Pay, your credit or debit card data is encrypted in a secure space. It is a secure means of payment thanks to identification by fingerprint, iris scan or PIN code , tokenization of card data and data protection with Samsung Knox.

The app also allows you to add and manage loyalty cards from your favorite stores and supermarkets, which can be cashed directly from your phone.

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Satispay

There is also an application of Italian origin and relatively unknown in France ( wrongly ) to pay with your smartphone. It’s Satispay , designed for those who don’t want to walk around with too much cash in their pockets, but also don’t want to cover the cost of a credit card. Satispay allows you to make micropayments through your mobile phone , like a kind of “ Whatsapp to send money ”, or to your contacts or to affiliated stores.

To use Satispay, you must first download the application from your Store ( it’s free ). Next, register by entering your phone number, email address and a 5-digit PIN that will be used to access the app each time. To complete the procedure, you must enter your IBAN and your identity card number .At this point, load the account with money and set a spending budget.

Paying with your phone at the store with Satispay is very simple: just open the application, select the store where you want to pay from the list, type the amount and confirm. Sending is immediate , and the merchant will only have to accept the request. For transactions of up to 10 euros, the service is free, while it costs 0.20 euros if you pay amounts greater than 10 euros .

It is also possible to “earn money” since Satispay offers the Cashback option, i.e. the immediate reimbursement of a percentage of the expense, credited directly to the user’s application once the Metropcs payment app with Satispay made. The app allows you to participate in cashback and is a viable alternative for those without SPIDs.