Being able to make a payment wherever you are, at any moment of the day, is one of the blessings of our time. Whether you want to make an online purchase, to send money to a friend or to pay for something in a store, it’s a relief to know that you can do all of these with your smartphone alone.
Digital wallet apps allow you to track all your transactions accurately in real-time, exchange currency, make investments or transfer money internationally. Let’s see how.
1. Making In-Store Purchases
If you want to use your smartphone to pay in stores, you can make it act as a physical card. You can pay thus almost anywhere where you would usually pay with your credit or debit card. Apple users can use Apple Pay for in-store purchases. However, since Apple Pay uses NFC technology, it only works for contactless payments.
For Android devices, the best option is Samsung Pay, which uses a technology called Magnetic Secure Transmission that allows users to pay anywhere where a credit or debit card is accepted, with no need of participation from the merchants or other limitations.
2. Paying Friends
The most popular app for sending money among friends is undoubtedly Venmo, available for Android and iOS devices. Easy to use, the app gives users the option to send money to mobile numbers, Facebook accounts or email addresses.
Adding that the transfers are free, Venmo’s popularity can only grow in the future. Google Wallet and Square Cash have similar features as Venmo, yet don’t have the same outreach at the moment. A plus for Square Cash is that the receiver doesn’t need to have the app to get the money.
3. Making International Transfers
The ability to transform your phone into a digital wallet can be incredibly convenient when you’re a traveller who has to switch between various currencies regularly or someone who has to make regular international payments. In this case, TransferWise and Revolut are two digital banking options for international money transfers.
While Revolut is only accessible via an app, TransferWise has an official website along with an app. Both offer much favourable exchange rates than any traditional bank and give you the chance to hold accounts in dozens of currencies. All manageable with a regular Android or iOS device.
4. Storing Cryptocurrency
The massive popularity of Bitcoin has made merchants embrace cryptocurrency as a valid payment option. If a while ago, buying and storing Bitcoin and similar digital currencies seemed like something reserved for technical people who understood concepts like blockchain, encryption and mining, today cryptocurrency is easily accessible to any regular Internet user.
Having an online bitcoin wallet on your smartphone is convenient if you want to make secure online payments, store your cryptocurrency as an investment or make personal transfers. Since more and more merchants are accepting Bitcoin payments, the value of owning Bitcoin is predicted to grow. From your digital wallet, you can buy and sell Bitcoin freely with just a few clicks on your touchscreen.
As users discover the wide-ranging benefits of mobile payment applications, popular companies try to come up with new technologies that can make financial transactions quick and secure. If you want your smartphone to function as a digital wallet, you already have plenty of attractive options to make that possible.
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