Making life easier with Mastercard and Android Pay

We were recently given the opportunity to try out the new Android Pay App on a family shopping trip. I am a little behind the times and rarely even use contactless payment, so I was really interested to see how it worked and whether it would be as convenient as paying with your debit/credit card.

The Android Pay app is available to download for smartphones and tablets with Android 4.4 KitKat or above. Android Pay can be used at a wide variety of stores; those participating will display a contactless symbol.

Could it really be as simple as tapping you phone over the terminal? Apparently the app doesn’t even need to be open on your phone. We set off to find out.

Our Day out with the Android Pay app

As you can see from our rather soggy shopping trip, it was super easy to use. One restaurant, which was on the list of participating stores, said they didn’t accept it, so we found somewhere else for lunch. Apart from that our shopping trip went off without a glitch and I was really surprised with how easy it was to use. It was literally a case of holding the unlocked phone over the terminal briefly and after a beep it was all done. Immediately the transaction was displayed on the phone. This was a great way of keeping track of my spending on a shopping trip. It certainly kept me in check!

You can load various cards onto your Android Pay app, Mastercard credit, debit, small business and reloadable prepaid cards from participating issuers and use them all. When you buy from selected merchants, your loyalty points and offers are automatically applied at checkout too.

I did have some concerns about safety, however when you make a purchase with Android Pay they use a unique number instead of your actual card information. All Mastercard transactions are secure, and consumers are always protected from unauthorised use. In addition, every purchase made using Android Pay offers the enhanced security and benefits of a digital Mastercard transaction. Which certainly gave me peace of mind.

I will be back tomorrow with a more in depth look at the pros and cons of the app.

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.