Mobile payments solutions are certainly one of the hot topics in the mobile world and as a result, the battle to be your mobile payment solution of choice, is very much underway. At the very core level, consumers have the ability to make use of Android Pay – if they own an Android device. Or of course, Apple pay if they own an iOS running device. That said, if you specifically own a Samsung device, then Samsung Pay seems to be currently the en vogue payment method, due to its ability to be used at more merchant locations and not only through NFC-enabled terminals.
However, part of the ability to use any mobile payment solution relies on the support from financial institutions for the payment method you are using or plan to use. In the U.S., one of the high profile financial institutions who have yet to offer support for the likes of Android Pay is Chase. This seems to be due to Chase looking to further advance their own mobile payment solution, Chase Pay. If you are in the UK, then much seems to be the case with Barclays who also seem to have yet to adopt support for Apple Pay. As Android Pay has not fully launched in the UK yet, this is also obviously not a service that is open to Barclays UK customers at the present moment.
However, a report coming through this morning details that some Barclays customers in the UK are about to get the ability to make use of NFC payments directly from Barclays. According to the information, an update which is rolling out to the Barclaycard Android app is an update which will bring with it NFC payments. A feature which had been announced by the company back in the second half of last year. Payments through the app are limited to only £30 in total. It is being said that some merchants will accept payments up to £100 through the app, although, payments over £30 will still require a pin to be used to confirm the purchase. All payments £30 or under will be able to be completed simply by touching the app-enabled device against an NFC reader. The other major caveat being reported is that this is only open to those who have a Barclaycard credit card. This seems to be the reason as to why it is the Barclaycard Android app which is said to be the app receiving the update today and not the main Barclays Banking app. Either way, if you are a Barclays customer with a Barclaycard and have the app downloaded, then you should start to see the update coming through, if you have not already. If you have yet to download the app, you can by heading through the link below.