Google Pay: what is it and how does it work?

Google's answer to Apple's Pay payment service is the Google Pay payment system for Android users. We will tell you how the Google payment system works and how you can use it.

With the release of Android M in the fall of 2015, the Android Pay payment service began to function in the United States. Then it was renamed to "Google Pay" and became available in Russia in May 2017. In this article, we will understand what kind of service it is and what it can be useful for.

What can Google Pay do?

Google Pay allows you to effortlessly pay for purchases using your Android smartphone in stores, on the web, or in mobile applications.

 

In a regular store, at the checkout, you can simply touch your smartphone to the payment terminal, and your purchase will be paid - without cash, without a plastic card, and without a PIN code. It is true that if you make more than three transactions worth more than 1000 rubles, you will have to unlock your phone in order to approve the payment.

If you see these symbols at the checkout, you can pay with Google Pay in that store.

Payment via Google Pay is supported by almost all the largest Russian retail chains - Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, Karusel, Magnit, and Lenta, as well as fast food chains (McDonald's, KFC, Burger King), gas stations (Rosneft, Bashneft), and some electronics stores (M-Video, Eldorado).

 

In apps or online stores that you visit on your smartphone, you can also pay with Google Pay if the seller supports it. For example, using Google Pay, you can pay for a taxi call via Uber, a purchase on Lamoda and Panda, or order pizza at Dodo.

 

Money for purchase in a supermarket or an online store is charged from your Visa or Mastercard bank card. In Russia, the service cooperates with 55 different banks, both large federal ones (Sberbank, Tinkoff, Alfa-Bank, VTB24) and smaller regional ones.

 

How do I use Google Pay?

Google Pay is supported on all Android smartphones starting with Android 4.4. You can find out the version of Android on your smartphone by going to Settings > System > About Phone.

 

To pay at regular offline stores, your smartphone must have a built-in NFC chip. As a rule, it is present in new models of smartphones. You can check its availability by finding the corresponding item in the smartphone settings, or simply by reading the technical specifications of the device on the Internet.

 

To use Google Pay, you first need to download and set up the free Google Pay app for Android. You can download it from this link. Important: To use the application, the official firmware must be installed on the smartphone.

 

In addition, the application may not start if the smartphone has root access, i.e., superuser rights. In addition, a screen lock must be enabled on the phone so that no one else can use your payment details.

 

After installing the application (it is, of course, free), you need to go to the smartphone settings and enable NFC. Then you need to set up a screen lock using a password or pattern in the "Lock screen and security" section. 

 

After that, you can run the application.

To use the payment system, you need to enter the details of your bank card (or cards, if you have several of them) into the application. If you have linked a bank card to your Google account - some smartphones offer to do this directly when you first set up your phone - then the application will "pick it up" automatically.

 

If the card is not linked, you will be prompted to scan it or manually enter its number and expiration date. In addition, in any case, you will need to manually enter the card authenticity code (CVC - three digits on the back of the card), as well as your personal data: full name, full address, and phone number.

 

After that, you need to accept the terms of service, wait for the card to be verified, and confirm that you are its owner by entering the code from the SMS that Google will send to your phone number. In this case, a small amount (about 30 rubles) will be debited from your account. After a while, it will be returned back - just make sure that you have money in your account before setting it up.

 

This completes the setup, and you can successfully use the Google Pay system. Even if your smartphone does not have an NFC chip, it still makes sense to install the application in order to safely pay in online stores and applications.

 

Is it really safe? Yes. Your data is always transmitted encrypted. Thus, nothing threatens their safety. Merchants receive money from Google; your bank details are not shared with them. Google then charges the spent amount from your account.

 

There are two small nuances associated with Google itself. First, for each payment, Google receives a small commission, but it is always paid by the seller. In addition, Google uses your anonymized data to study consumer behavior.