What You’ll Love About Using a Mobile Wallet
With the world becoming increasingly more digital, so have our wallets. Paying with your phone or smartwatch offers many benefits compared to using a physical card. If you’re not already using a digital wallet, you might want to learn about them and start using one. Let’s go over the perks of using a mobile wallet, how you can set yours up and pay with it, and safety tips when using one.
Features People Love with Their Mobile Wallet
- It’s More Secure
You might be surprised to read that a mobile wallet is more secure than a physical card. However, your debit or credit card number is tokenized when you use your mobile wallet, so your actual card number is never given to the store.
If someone gains access to your phone or smartwatch, only the last four digits of your card will show, giving your cards an extra layer of protection. Along with this, purchases typically can only be made with the correct Face ID, fingerprint, or password. This means only you can make purchases with the card stored in your device’s mobile wallet.
- It’s More Convenient
Say goodbye to searching for your wallet and the exact card you want to make a purchase with. You don’t even need to carry your physical wallet with you if you’re making a trip somewhere where you know you can use your digital wallet. While making purchases online, you’ll no longer need to type in all your card information. With your card stored on your phone, checkouts are a lot more convenient and faster.
- It’s Less Contact
Compared to paying with cash, a mobile wallet requires a lot less contact. You don’t need to hand cash over to someone and except cash back if you have any. Even compared to paying with a debit card, a mobile wallet uses less contact. You won’t need to touch the pin pad to type in your PIN. All you need to do it pull out your phone and hold it near the card reader.
How to Set Up Your Mobile Wallet
Setting up your mobile wallet is quick and only has a few steps.
- Download your preferred mobile wallet app
There are a few mobile wallets that you can use:
Apple devices: Apple Pay
Android devices: Google Pay
Samsung devices: Samsung Wallet.
- Add your debit and/or credit card
Once you have your mobile app downloaded, you can tap the add button and scan or enter your card information.
- Set up security features like Face ID, Touch ID, or a password
To keep your card information is safe, set up your extra layer of protection. This can be Face ID, Touch ID, or a password. Once you have that set up, you’ll be able to use your mobile wallet.
How to Pay In-Store with Your Mobile Wallet
After you set up your wallet, you’ll want to start using it when making purchases in the store.
- Open your digital wallet (This might not always be necessary. If you have an iPhone, you can double-click the side button or home button, and your wallet will open).
- Authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode
- Hold your phone near the card reader
- Payment confirmed
How to Pay Online with Your Mobile Wallet
Using your mobile wallet while shopping online is fast and convenient.
- Look for the mobile wallet option
- Confirm payment with a security method (Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode)
If you’d like to watch our video that goes over everything we talked about above, you can watch it here.
Keeping Your Mobile Wallet Secure
Even with the extra layers of protection, you’ll still want to be alert and take precautions to keep it secure.
- Lock your phone: You can create another layer of protection by having a passcode on your phone. If you ever lose your phone or someone steals it, you will keep your information safer by requiring another passcode to access anything.
- Use strong passwords: Along with having a password, you’ll want to make sure the password is strong and unique. You don’t want it to be one that is easy to guess and that uses personal information.
- Set up alerts: You can have alerts that let you know whenever a purchase is made with your card. This is a helpful way to keep track of your spending and quickly catch any purchases that are made by someone else.