Google Pay (formerly Android Pay) is a

mobile payment A mobile payment, also referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet, is any of various payment processing services operated under financial regulations and performed from or via a mobile device, as the cardinal class of d ...

service developed by

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. I ...

to power in-app, online, and in-person contactless purchases on mobile devices, enabling users to make payments with Android phones, tablets, or

watches A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...

. Users can authenticate via a PIN, passcode, or biometrics such as 3D face scanning or fingerprint recognition. , it is currently available in 46 countries. In 2022, a companion app named

Google Wallet Google Wallet (or simply Wallet) is a digital wallet platform developed by Google. It is available for the Android, Wear OS, and Fitbit OS operating systems, and was announced on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. It began rolli ...

was released.

Service

Google Pay uses

near-field communication Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (1 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be ...

(NFC) to transmit card information facilitating funds transfer to the retailer. It replaces the credit or

debit Debits and credits in double-entry bookkeeping are entries made in account ledgers to record changes in value resulting from business transactions. A debit entry in an account represents a transfer of value ''to'' that account, and a credit e ...

card

chip and PIN Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genom ...

magnetic stripe The term digital card can refer to a physical item, such as a memory card on a camera, or, increasingly since 2017, to the digital content hosted as a virtual card or cloud card, as a digital virtual representation of a physical card. They share ...

transaction at

point-of-sale terminal A payment terminal, also known as a point of sale (POS) terminal, credit card terminal, EFTPOS terminal (or by the older term as PDQ terminal which stands for "Process Data Quickly"), is a device which interfaces with payment cards to make electro ...

s by allowing the user to upload these in Google Wallet. It is similar to contactless payments already used in many countries, with the addition of

two-factor authentication Multi-factor authentication (MFA; encompassing two-factor authentication, or 2FA, along with similar terms) is an electronic authentication method in which a user is granted access to a website or application only after successfully presenting ...

. The service lets Android devices wirelessly communicate with

point of sale The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice ...

systems using a

near field communication Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (1 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be ...

(NFC) antenna and host-based card emulation (HCE). When the user makes a payment to a merchant, Google Pay does not send the actual payment card number. Instead, it generates a virtual account number representing the user's account information. Google Pay requires that a screen lock be set on the phone or watch. It has no card limit. Users can add payment cards to the service by taking a photo of the card, or by entering the card information manually. To pay at

points of sale The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice f ...

, users hold their authenticated device to the point of sale system. The service has smart-authentication, allowing the system to detect when the device is considered secure (for instance if unlocked in the last five minutes) and challenge if necessary for unlock information.

Technology

Google Pay uses the EMV Payment Tokenisation Specification. The service keeps customer payment information private from the retailer by replacing the customer's credit or debit card Funding Primary Account Number (FPAN) with a tokenized Device Primary Account Number (DPAN) and creates a "dynamic security code ..generated for each transaction". The "dynamic security code" is the cryptogram in an

EMV EMV is a payment method based on a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which can accept them. EMV stands for " Europay, Mastercard, and Visa", the three companies that created ...

-mode transaction, and the Dynamic Card Verification Value (dCVV) in a magnetic-stripe-data emulation-mode transaction. Users can also remotely halt the service on a lost phone via Google's

Find My Device Find My Device is an application and service developed by Google to remotely trace, locate and wipe Android devices such as smartphones, tablets and smartwatches, as well as the Pixel Buds. Features Find My Device locates and traces missing A ...

service. To pay at points of sale, users hold their authenticated Android device to the point-of-sale system's NFC reader. Android users authenticate unlocking their phone by using biometrics, a pattern, or a passcode, whereas Wear OS users authenticate by opening the Google Wallet app prior to payment.

Consumer Device Cardholder Verification Method (CDCVM)

In EMV-mode transactions, Google Pay supports the use of the Consumer Device Cardholder Verification Method (CDCVM) using biometrics, pattern, or the phone's or watch's passcode. The use of CDCVM allows the device itself to provide verification for the transaction and may not require the cardholder to sign a receipt or enter their PIN. Additionally, in certain markets which have a "no verification contactless limit" using contactless cards (such as the £100 limit in the United Kingdom and the CA$100 limit in Canada), the use of CDCVM can enable merchants to accept transactions higher than these amounts using Google Pay, provided that their terminal software is updated to support the latest network contactless specifications.

Availability

For the most part, Google Pay is available in all the same regions that Google Wallet is, with two exceptions. In India, tap-to-pay through Google Pay is available through the GPay app. In Japan, the old Google Pay branding is used to refer to the Google Wallet app.

Supported networks

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

Visa Debit Visa Debit is a major brand of debit card issued by Visa in many countries around the world. Numerous banks and financial institutions issue Visa Debit cards to their customers for access to their bank accounts. In many countries the Visa Debit ...

Visa electron Visa Electron is a debit card product that uses the Visa payment system. It is offered by issuing banks in every country with the exception of Canada, Australia, Argentina, Ireland and the United States. The difference between Visa Electron and ...

* Mastercard /

Debit Mastercard Debit Mastercard is a brand of debit cards provided by Mastercard. They use the same systems as standard Mastercard credit cards but they do not use a line of credit to the customer, instead relying on funds that the customer has in their bank ...

* American Express * Discover *

Diners Club A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a comb ...

* JCB *

Maestro Maestro (; from the Italian ''maestro'' , meaning " master" or "teacher") is an honorific title of respect (plural: maestros or maestri). The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera, in line with the ubiqu ...

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

in the US, Germany *

EFTPOS Electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS; ) is an electronic payment system involving electronic funds transfers based on the use of payment cards, such as debit or credit cards, at payment terminals located at points of sale. EFTPOS t ...

in Australia *

Interac Interac is a Canadian interbank network that links financial institutions and other enterprises for the purpose of exchanging electronic financial transactions. Interac serves as the Canadian debit card system and the predominant funds trans ...

in Canada

References

External links

* {{Mobile payments Computer-related introductions in 2017 Android (operating system) software Pay Pay Mobile payments Payment systems Online payments