10 Mobile Payment Systems for Effortless Digital Transactions

Nowadays, we find ourselves carrying cold hard cashless and less because you can just as easily make your purchase with payment cards, and track your spending online. Plus, it’s more secure than carrying cash to buy anything you want.

Certain payment or loyalty cards also let you earn rewards or entries to contests, but they do add up. They make your wallet unnecessarily thick and heavy. Perhaps it is time to swap the system again; this time, for something that you have always been carrying around: your smartphone.

Digital wallets can help take you there. They are smartphone apps that hold your payment and loyalty card information. Google Wallet and Apple’s Passbook are two of the more popular ones we often hear about, but if they are not your fancy, there are plenty of other digital wallets that carry perks and benefits that you may prefer.

Google Wallet

Instead of tapping your credit card on the NFC machine at the checkout counter, all you have to do is wave your smartphone or tap it on the machine to make your payments. It’ll be able to identify the credit card information linked on your Google account.

For this to to work, Google Wallet requires Near Field Communication (NFC) technology available, which unfortunately is only available on certain smartphones and tablets.

You link your debit or credit card to your Google account and you can leave your wallet at home – but at the moment, it only works with phones and credit cards from the US and only in the US. Currently, it supports 20+ merchants on the ground and online, promising more merchants to come.

Apple’s Passbook

Apple’s Passbook was introduced in iOS 6 and relies on scanning 2D barcodes to help you manage your movie, concert and airline tickets as well as loyalty cards and coupons for selected merchants.

The result: you get location and time-based notifications when you’re near a cafe where you can use your loyalty card or when your airline, movie or concert ticket is nearing its due date.

You add passes through apps that support Passbook. So instead of bringing your grocery coupons and stack of loyalty cards wherever you go, you can store it in Passbook.

Square Wallet

Square wallet is available on iOS and Android and works similar to Lemon Wallet, with a few additional cool features. You link your credit card to the app, but instead of paying directly with the credit card, it requires the use of merchant cards which is why Square works only with their list of merchants.

Because it is location based, the store knows you’re ordering something and will charge it to the card linked on your Square account.

It features Hands-Free Checkout as well where you ‘favorite’ the merchant and all you have to do is say your name at checkout. As you visit these stores, you can also earn rewards and discounts on your next visit. You can also purchase in-store gift vouchers to be sent to other Square users.

Chirpify

Chirpify lets you use social media apps like Twitter and Instagram to buy, sell, send and receive money. You have to first register for an account on their website; it uses PayPal to send or receive money.

On your account dashboard, you can create a listing if you’re selling something or want to start a fund raiser. You can create a listing via Instagram with the captions:

• ‘$5 #instasale‘ to sell
• ‘$0 #instagimme‘ for a giveaway
• ‘$10 #instafund‘ for a donation

A listing will then be created on your Chirpify account dashboard.

Other Chirpify members buying your item simply comment ‘Buy’ on Instagram or reply with ‘Buy’ on a Tweet, and the transaction is complete. Chirpify users can also send money between friends or make donations via Twitter. There is a 5% transaction fee whenever money enters your Chirpify account.

Venmo

Venmo is an app available for iOS and Android for transferring money between friends. Once you have an account, you can link a bank account, credit or debit card to it. It works similar to PayPal but only between two parties with Venmo accounts.

Sending money is like writing an email to a friend, plus the amount you want to transfer. You can even share the transaction with a message on Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare.

Access your main account via their website, but make your transactions via your smartphone. Venmo also works via SMS with a few simple SMS commands. Venmo is a free app but only currently works with major US banks and phone numbers.

PayPal

Paypal is another famous service that can send money between other PayPal users and friends. Available for both iOS and Android, you can easily send money to other users just like you would on the PayPal website. It also allows you to view your past transactions in detail.

PayPal is also entering mobile payments via a card reader with the PayPal Here app, but at the moment it’s still in the ‘invitation only’ stages of testing.

Bonus:

Groupon App

The group buying website Groupon, now also have an app, available on iOS and Android, that lets you browse, buy and use your coupon from within the app without the need to print it.