We’ve become accustomed to our phones being more than just phones – they’re cameras, music players, contact managers and general computers. Increasingly you can also use your phone to pay for small amounts, in much the same way as we’ve become used to contactless credit and debit cards.
And in many ways it’s more secure to use your phone. For example, Samsung Pay uses an encrypted digital token to replace card information and protect against fraud, and also utilises Samsung’s KNOX security platform to protect both hardware and software. Samsung Pay supports linking to a wide range of cards including MasterCard and Visa. Although it’s not available on all Samsung handsets, it is being rolled out across more devices. It’s currently available on the S8/S8+, S7/S7 edge and S6/S6 edge, and being rolled out to the A3 2071 and A5 2017.
If you’re on iphone, Apple Pay works inside the Wallet app in much the same way. It’s secure and easy to use (and if you have an Apple Watch you don’t even need to take your phone out of your pocket!)