Can you accept credit card payments on an Android phone?
Many consumers prefer contactless payments, and vendors can easily enable them with a smartphone and the right software. Learn how to set up an Android to accept customer payments.
As Tap to Pay on iPhone gains prominence, SMB owners and IT decision-makers might wonder if Android offers similar capabilities.
When starting a business, simplicity and mobility can be a major advantage. Contactless technology makes it possible to accept credit card payments with nothing more than a smartphone, which can reduce both costs and complexity. However, vendors must understand which smartphones provide this technology and how to deploy it.
Does Android offer a Tap to Pay feature?
While Apple has made more headlines for offering the feature in recent years, both iPhones and Android phones can serve as point-of-sale (POS) terminals. In fact, Tap to Pay on Android can be just as easy and affordable to use, and it's even available on some tablets.
Like Tap to Pay on iPhone, Tap to Pay on Android relies on a payment service provider to enable the feature. It also uses the same near-field communication (NFC) technology. As a result, vendors can follow a similar process to accept payments on Android devices without buying any additional hardware.
How does Tap to Pay on Android work?
Tap to Pay is a feature that turns a mobile device into a payment terminal for in-person contactless transactions. To make a payment, customers can tap their mobile device or contactless credit or debit card against the Android device's NFC chip.
From there, payment processing occurs in the same way it does with other mobile payment methods. The vendor's payment service provider processes and completes the transaction, encrypting payment information such as bank account and card details along the way.
IT can check the device's settings to confirm the location of the NFC chip.
For Tap to Pay, the only noticeable difference between Android and iOS is the location of the device's NFC chip, where customers tap their payment method. With Tap to Pay on iPhone, customers tap their contactless card or device against the iPhone's screen. With Tap to Pay on Android, customers typically tap their contactless card or device against the back of the Android device. Because there are many different Android models, however, this might vary. IT can check the device's settings to confirm the location of the NFC chip.
Pros and cons of using Tap to Pay on Android
Implementing Tap to Pay on Android can have several benefits, especially for small businesses. Setup and maintenance are simple, as vendors need nothing more than the device itself and a payment service provider. Established vendors should already have a provider to process payments. However, if the provider does not support Tap to Pay on Android, it's necessary to switch to one that does.
Tap to Pay also provides some pricing benefits. With this payment option, merchants don't need to buy the other components of a traditional POS system, such as an external card reader or display. Tap to Pay on Android can be particularly inexpensive, as Android phones also tend to cost less than iPhones.
Despite the potentially lower price, Tap to Pay on Android offers all the same functionality as Tap to Pay on iPhone. It works with both contactless credit cards and mobile wallets such as Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay. Customers get the same streamlined checkout experience no matter which contactless payment method they use.
Still, merchants can't use Tap to Pay to accept payments in cash or from older magnetic stripe cards. To accommodate customers who don't use contactless cards or digital wallets, vendors must provide additional payment options. This might involve buying extra components, such as a magstripe reader. Some payment service providers also offer manual card entry as an option for these scenarios.
Security is a possible Android weak spot that could affect Tap to Pay. Unlike iPhones, different Android devices don't get updates at the same time due to fragmentation. Plus, they generally receive less frequent software updates than iPhones. Because of this, some devices might lack the latest security patches, leaving the POS system more vulnerable to cyberthreats.
If admins have to choose between Tap to Pay on Android and Tap to Pay on iPhone, the decision depends on their business's needs. Tap to Pay on Android might be more affordable and provides the flexibility of working on both mobile phones and tablets. Tap to Pay on iPhone might be slightly more secure, and the lack of choices and variation in device models can provide simplicity.
How to set up Tap to Pay on Android
There are some considerations to think about before implementing Tap to Pay on Android. To set it up, businesses must have a merchant account with a payment service provider that supports the feature. Admins can then enable Tap to Pay in their provider's mobile payment app.
Compatible payment service providers include Square, Stripe and PayPal. There's a lot of variation in terms of which device models and OS versions are acceptable, so admins should check their provider's documentation to ensure that the Android device they plan to use can support Tap to Pay. For example, Square's documentation states that devices must run Android 9 or later, while Stripe's documentation states that devices must run Android 11 or later. The key prerequisite across the board is NFC capability.
Vendors can set up Tap to Pay on Android using the following steps:
Verify that the device meets the payment service provider's requirements for Tap to Pay on Android. Make note of the NFC chip's location for future transactions.
Navigate to the device's settings and make sure that NFC is on.
If it's not already installed, download the payment service provider's mobile app to the device. For PayPal, vendors need to download the PayPal Zettle app to enable Tap to Pay on Android.
Open the app and sign in or create an account. In the app's settings, turn on Tap to Pay or Tap to Pay on Android.
When a customer wants to make a payment, vendors can then complete the following steps:
Open the app and enter the transaction amount.
Select Tap to Pay as the payment method.
Once the contactless symbol appears on the screen, the device is ready to accept the customer's card or digital wallet.
Present the device to the customer and direct them so they know where to tap their payment method to initiate the transaction. Once they've held their card or device in the right spot for a few seconds, the screen should indicate that the payment is complete.
Katie Fenton is associate site editor for TechTarget's Mobile Computing, Enterprise Desktop and Virtual Desktop sites.
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