Mobile payments via NFC are starting to pick up as of late, with the launch of Samsung Pay, Apple Pay and Android Pay, and now we’re starting to see the banks and credit card processors jump in on the action. Capital One recently updated their app, Capital One Wallet, to bring contactless NFC payments to everyone. Now, for some this might be a bit confusing. Basically, what Capital One has done here is they are allowing you to use their app to make a payment with your phone instead of pulling up the Android Pay app. Yes this can be a bit confusing, but it should make things better in the long run. As you won’t need the Android Pay app to make mobile payments with your Capital One card(s).
The update to the Capital One Wallet app also adds receipt capture for credit cards. So when you use your card, and opt not to get a receipt, you will get one saved into your app, making it easier to go back and see what you bought and how much you spent. A great feature, especially if you’re looking to write purchases off for your taxes. Capital One also fixed some crashes, for those that had the app crash multiple times when trying to use it. So that should be all fixed up now. While we do also have bug fixes in this update, obviously the noteworthy feature is NFC functionality for making payments. Customers also won’t need to add their cards to Android Pay or other apps. As they are already included in the Capital One app.
Capital One has already pushed the update over to the Google Play Store, and you can download it today. It is a staged rollout, so it could be a bit slow in hitting your device. But it shouldn’t take too long. With NFC payments being built into the app, this could help the adoption rate of NFC payments, as it’s one less step that customers have to take to utilize mobile payments. It’s a bit earlier to tell, but we should know soon enough.
Download: Capital One Wallet (Google Play)