Google Wallet

With Google Wallet on your smartphone or tablet, you can pay for all your purchases faster and directly from your cell phone using its NFC capabilities.

Google's mobile payment system

The days of cash and even so-called plastic money are numbered. Mobile payment systems are the order of the day. After Apple was the first to announce its Apple Pay platform, less than a year later it was Google with Google Pay, renamed Google Wallet, and Samsung with Samsung Pay, which also announced their intention to enter the sector.

These mobile payment platforms are already a reality and Android Pay aims to compete with the above services, in addition to PayPal of course. The idea is to make paying for our purchases faster, safer and more convenient than ever. And time has shown that Google was right. More and more people are paying via the platform without having to open their wallets.

Benefits of Google Wallet

• Pay directly with your mobile phone at any point-of-sale terminal that has the contactless symbol.
• Manage all your bank cards from the same application. Add as many as you want.
• Ability to make in-app purchases or integrated purchases in a much faster and easier way.
• A totally secure payment system that offers you rewards and benefits for your purchases.
• Register with all your receipts and proof of payment in the same place.

And if you're wondering about this service's advantages over its main competitors, then one thing is crystal clear. While Apple Pay and Samsung Pay require a specific brand of device, this platform works on any Android device.

With which shops and banks is Google Wallet compatible?

This is precisely one of the disadvantages of this service compared to other similar systems: it does not work with every bank. The list already includes many of the big banks and online banks such as BBVA, Bankinter, N26, Openbank, EVO, Revolut or kutxabank, just to name a few. However, some household names are conspicuous by their absence as they still haven't struck a deal with the giant.

As for the shops where you can pay with your mobile phone's NFC, it's already easier, since you just have to look for the establishments (including restaurants and entertainment venues) whose data machine has the symbol representative of contactless payments. Hard to find a device these days that doesn't have it.

What do I need to pay with Google Wallet?

Seen above, there are three essential requirements to be able to use Android Pay in our country:

• An Android device, either a smartphone or tablet with version 5.0 or later, or an Android Wear device.
• The device must have NFC functionality for contactless payments and must not be rooted.
• Have a card from one of the compatible banks (more are becoming available). This information can be checked on the official Google Pay website.

Requirements and further information:

• Minimum operating system requirements: Android 7.0.