Android Pay question.

[nuraman00]

I manually swipe my credit cards, according to the following logic. It depends on the merchant category.

Card A: Gas, travel, dining, Costco.

Card B: Anything not covered by A or C.

Card C: Dining, bakeries, groceries, entertainment.

If I use Android Pay, is it possible for it to pick which card I want to use, based on the merchant category?

Or, should I set it to use Card B, then manually swipe if I want to use the others?

Also, how close do I have to get to the terminal to activate Android Pay? Do I have to be within 1 foot? A few inches?

If I have my phone in my pocket, will it activate? I don't want it to activate if my phone is in my pocket, because I don't want it to use the wrong card for that merchant (when possibly manually swiping a card would have been the right move, if I only have Card B set in Android Pay).

One more question. Is it possible to only use Android Pay with a certain merchant? For example, if I know I'd be using Card B manually with a certain merchant, maybe I only enable Android Pay for that specific merchant. So I only use it for merchants where I know the category for sure. Thus not manually using it for those merchants.

 

[SpookDroid]

Unfortunately this kind of 'automation' for card selection is not possible. You CAN select a default/preferred card, but otherwise you'd have to manually select which card to use at the moment of payment. Remember, Android Pay (nor Samsung Pay, nor any other Digital Wallet) does not know which merchant/terminal you're paying at until you the transaction is finished; they only 'see' a payment terminal and initiate the secure transaction between them. (This, of course, is not the case when paying online, but the automation for card selection you want is also not possible in that case).

Now, for how close, it will depend on the phone you're using, if you have a case on or not (and how 'obtrusive' said case can be for NFC signals), the type of payment terminal and said terminal's NFC antenna/chip location. NFC is not meant to work with long distances and it's meant to be a 'touch proximity' communication, so while it may work while hovering the phone over the terminal a couple of inches, the safest bet is to do have contact with the terminal. Most terminals will have the NFC or Wi-Fi-like symbol where their sensor/antenna is, so you know which area of the terminal to tap. Your particular phone, if I recall correctly, the Note 4 has the NFC chip in the battery pack and should sit on the lower-right corner of the back of your phone.

 

[nuraman00]

Unfortunately this kind of 'automation' for card selection is not possible. You CAN select a default/preferred card, but otherwise you'd have to manually select which card to use at the moment of payment. Remember, Android Pay (nor Samsung Pay, nor any other Digital Wallet) does not know which merchant/terminal you're paying at until you the transaction is finished; they only 'see' a payment terminal and initiate the secure transaction between them. (This, of course, is not the case when paying online, but the automation for card selection you want is also not possible in that case).

Now, for how close, it will depend on the phone you're using, if you have a case on or not (and how 'obtrusive' said case can be for NFC signals), the type of payment terminal and said terminal's NFC antenna/chip location. NFC is not meant to work with long distances and it's meant to be a 'touch proximity' communication, so while it may work while hovering the phone over the terminal a couple of inches, the safest bet is to do have contact with the terminal. Most terminals will have the NFC or Wi-Fi-like symbol where their sensor/antenna is, so you know which area of the terminal to tap. Your particular phone, if I recall correctly, the Note 4 has the NFC chip in the battery pack and should sit on the lower-right corner of the back of your phone.

Thanks.

I might activate it and set up Card B on it. And I'll keep it on my pocket, until I'm ready to use it.

If I see it activated during a transaction when I didn't want to use it (because I wanted to use Card A or C instead, manually), then I might stop using it.

We'll see how this goes.

 

[SpookDroid]

You shouldn't see it active unless you're tapping at the terminal while it's actively awaiting a transaction. Furthermore, it will ask you for user authentication (PIN or Fingerprint) before any Digital Wallet would process the payment at all (so, even if you were to tap the phone on an active terminal, if you don't authenticate AFTER the prompt, the payment wouldn't be processed).

 

[me just saying]

Thanks.

I might activate it and set up Card B on it. And I'll keep it on my pocket, until I'm ready to use it.

If I see it activated during a transaction when I didn't want to use it (because I wanted to use Card A or C instead, manually), then I might stop using it.

We'll see how this goes.

I have been using mobile payments for years (started in 2013) and never had the wrong card charged - unless I was not paying attention to what was on the screen. Just use it a few times and you will get the hang of it and will understand how things work. Then you will wonder why you waited so long before starting to use it and find you were worrying over nothing.

 

[SpookDroid]

I have been using mobile payments for years (started in 2013) and never had the wrong card charged - unless I was not paying attention to what was on the screen. Just use it a few times and you will get the hang of it and will understand how things work. Then you will wonder why you waited so long before starting to use it and find you were worrying over nothing.

I think the OP means using the 'wrong' selected card (i.e. You're at a supermarket where Card A gives you 1.5 cash back but Card B gives you 3%, or at a gas station where using Card A would give you 5% but Card B would only yield 2%), not necessarily the app charging the wrong card (you're right, that wouldn't happen). If the OP forgets to switch cards, then the default card would be charged, and that may not be the best-bang-for-your-buck card.

 

[me just saying]

I think the OP means using the 'wrong' selected card (i.e. You're at a supermarket where Card A gives you 1.5 cash back but Card B gives you 3%, or at a gas station where using Card A would give you 5% but Card B would only yield 2%), not necessarily the app charging the wrong card (you're right, that wouldn't happen). If the OP forgets to switch cards, then the default card would be charged, and that may not be the best-bang-for-your-buck card.

I am trying to understand the point of your post. It is the users responsibility to know what card to swipe onto the screen before checking out.