Android Pay is now available in the UK from today, but typically not for me because Barclays aren’t on of the launch banks. Banks supported at launch are Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank, MBNA and Nationwide Building Society with more to be added as they sign up.
You will be able to use Android Pay everywhere contactless payments are accepted including many high street stores. You can also pay for the Tube, bus and train with Transport for London by simply tapping with your phone as you would with a credit card.
Businesses throughout the UK who already have contactless terminals won’t need to do anything else to be able to accept Android Pay in store.
Google will also be launching ‘Android Pay Day’, bringing special offers each month to brighten the last week before pay day. Starbucks UK and Deliveroo will be among the first to reward Android Pay users in the UK. More offers will roll out in the months to come.
If you’d like to use Android Pay (and your bank has actually got their act together and signed up) then download Android Pay from Google Play, add your bank card (or confirm them if you’ve already got them registered with Google) and you’re good to go!
As UK consumers will now be starting to use Android Pay, it’s worth considering adding the facility to your website or app for mobile users. You can integrate yourself, or partners such as PayPal’s Braintree, Klarna or Stripe can all provide solutions which offer Android Pay.
3 Responses
I’ve been using Android pay for a couple of months with HSBC, not sure how that happened. I like the fact it doesn’t share your details with the seller and gives you an immediate receipt, it’s also very convenient. It’s about time you could pay for parking with contactless as I never seem to have cash on me nowadays.
I use Stripe as well as Paypal on my website for bookings, makes it easier for people to book and pay on a mobile device, it’s also a lot cheaper for me fees wise than Paypal.
Android Pay launched in the UK on 18th May last year and I’m pretty sure all of the above named banks were there at launch. I’ve also been using it with my HSBC debit card for many months.
The first “Android Pay Day” was June 2016 so I think this is a pretty old story..