Mobile wallet is a big thing now. Many financial payment apps have been created. They make payments easily. With mobile wallet apps like of Google and Apple Pay, you can easily pay with your smartphone.
The FinTech industry has a different payment system, and ways to receive money. With this system, you don’t have to worry about leaving your wallet at home.
You can use different mobile wallet apps for online and offline payment. These include PayPal, Square, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Paga, and Quickteller.
With the mobile wallet apps, you can leave your purse behind and pay your bills with your smartphone. Although, currently not every store accepts mobile wallet payments.
What is a mobile wallet?
A mobile wallet is a financial app that allows you to make purchases with your smartphone. Your smartphone lets you install apps. These apps enable you to store and secure your credit or debit card information. This allows you to make payments easily. Mobile devices can use a wallet like PayPal, Apple, Samsung, and Google Pay. You can download it from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
No wallet, pay with your smartphone
Many stores (both online and offline) accept mobile wallet payment, a technology that lets you make payments via your smartphone. You could use your credit or debit card to pay for services and goods.
Different mobile wallet apps work for different countries. And also mobile wallet apps that work for specific stores. This wallet is downloaded from the merchant website or the app store.
Mobile wallet apps
They’re a lot, and you can’t possibly use all of them. You just have to pick from the best or the ones that are mostly used in your environment. With the different choices and features, we have some of the best mobile wallet apps from each continent.
A mobile wallet app can also be owned by merchants. They might create a payment app that can only be used for their store. You can easily download it from their website or the App Store.
And, again, your banks still have a mobile wallet app. You can use it to make purchases from stores that accept this payment system. Using a merchant wallet can earn you bonuses and points.
There are more than 300 mobile wallet apps available in the world, and some of which are very popular. Not all mobile wallet application works in certain places.
Some are tied to a specific country or continent, while others are more widely used. Here are some mobile wallet apps you can use. Examples include Google Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, Mobilepay, Swish, Quickteller, Paga, M-Pesa, Samsung Pay, AliPay, PayTM, PhonePe, Fawry, OPay, etc.
Mobile wallet in Africa
There are many mobile wallet applications in Africa. The financial technology sector has been booming over the last five years. I bet there are many to choose from. Payment in Africa has been one of the major challenges in the continent, and various individuals have come together to solve these issues, and in the space of 10 years, we have seen some tremendous increase with some even becoming a unicorn company within 5 years of launching.
Mobile payment apps in the continent want to break the barriers of paying for purchases online. They also aim to ease the process of sending and receiving money abroad. Africa is responsible for 64.5% of mobile money activity in the world, the total transactions hit $27.5 billion (up 15%). As of 2020, there were 310 live mobile money services, out of these, 55.2% were in Africa. Africa has 171 active mobile money services.
Africa is responsible for 64.5% of mobile money activity in the world. With $495 million in transaction value.
How to use a mobile wallet
How does the mobile wallet work, how does payment occur? Before the payment process, you need to link your credit or debit card information to your preferred mobile wallet application.
When you’re to check out and want to make a payment, you can use your device at the checkout line. If you’re in a merchant store like Walmart, you can easily pay by placing your device near the terminal. Then, scan a bar code to make the purchase.
You can use other digital mobile money wallets if the merchant doesn’t have its application. These wallets allow you to pay for your bills at the store. You can use mobile wallet apps to pay for services and goods. When using these mobile wallet apps you also get cashback and return, and earn points if you shop more.
Where it works best
The mobile wallet works best at online and offline stores that accept mobile payments. They don’t want you to carry your credit or debit card around. Instead, they offer you a way to pay for purchases through your smartphone. You can also get cashback.
Having a mobile wallet lets you tap into the bonus reward program. You can easily keep track of the rewards program. It allows you to get the credit to redeem your bonus.
Mobile wallet security
Are mobile wallets secure? the question is mouth-watering. Cash can be stolen. Credit and debit cards can be hacked. Mobile wallets face similar risks, but you can protect your information by encryption.
To do this, you need to lock your device at all times. You should use a strong password with lower and uppercase letters mixed with a special character. Enable a fingerprint for the wallet to unlock during the payment process.
The problem with the mobile wallet is that you can’t make payments whenever your battery is down. Keep your device alive when you know you need to make a payment.
If you decide to try out the mobile wallet, you can check out Google Pay for Android. Apple Pay is available for iOS. For Samsung phones, consider Samsung Pay. If you want to explore other options, you can try PayPal, Paytm, OPay, Paga, and Quickteller. You can also consider other merchant apps like Walmart, Jumia Pay, and KongaPay.
