Unable to make NFC payments unless banking app is open

[King Mustard]

I bank with Barclays, who do not support Google Pay.

With my Samsung Galaxy S8+, I was able to make NFC payments, even when the phone was locked.

However, since I bought my Huawei P30 Pro back in March 2019, I need to have the Barclays app open and logged into it before I am able to make payments.

This makes it slow to make payments, so I tend to just get my card out. It's faster. Though it defeats the point.

I have disabled any battery-saving features related to the app.

Any ideas?

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

Hi there

Ivan a little confused by your message. You say that Barclays doesn't work with Google Pay. So maybe it worked with Samsung Pay. In which case it wouldn't work on a Huawei phone. Please can you clarify what you are doing with the phone. Which Pay app are you using with your Barclays debit card?

Thank you

 

[King Mustard]

Hi there

Ivan a little confused by your message. You say that Barclays doesn't work with Google Pay. So maybe it worked with Samsung Pay. In which case it wouldn't work on a Huawei phone. Please can you clarify what you are doing with the phone. Which Pay app are you using with your Barclays debit card?

Thank you

https://tamebay.com/2018/01/barclays-bank-still-penalise-android-compared-to-apple.html

I didn't need to use Google Pay with my Galaxy S8+ and I don't believe I used Samsung Pay.

I simply needed to have the Barclays app installed and NFC turned on.

Then, when I showed my locked phone to a device awaiting payment, it just worked.

However, since getting my P30 Pro phone, I have to unlock my phone, open the Barclays app, log in, then show the phone to the device awaiting payment.

 

[mustang7757]

https://tamebay.com/2018/01/barclays-bank-still-penalise-android-compared-to-apple.html

I didn't need to use Google Pay with my Galaxy S8+ and I don't believe I used Samsung Pay.

I simply needed to have the Barclays app installed and NFC turned on.

Then, when I showed my locked phone to a device awaiting payment, it just worked.

However, since getting my P30 Pro phone, I have to unlock my phone, open the Barclays app, log in, then show the phone to the device awaiting payment.

Hi, would you like me to move to Huawei p30 forums for better visibility?

 

[King Mustard]

Hi, would you like me to move to Huawei p30 forums for better visibility?

I popped it in the 'general Android' forum, as I'm not sure if it's Android-related or Huawei P30-related.

 

[mustang7757]

I popped it in the 'general Android' forum, as I'm not sure if it's Android-related or Huawei P30-related.

Might get better help in that forum from other users , let me know!

 

[B. Diddy]

It might have to do with Huawei's propensity to kill apps in the background, even if you turn off Battery Optimization for the app. Are there any other "RAM management" options in the system settings, RAM management apps installed?

 

[King Mustard]

It might have to do with Huawei's propensity to kill apps in the background, even if you turn off Battery Optimization for the app. Are there any other "RAM management" options in the system settings, RAM management apps installed?

Nothing additional. Such apps are a con.

 

[B. Diddy]

Such apps are a con.

Exactly. So it could still be something baked into the firmware. As I mentioned, Huawei is notorious for this: https://dontkillmyapp.com/

 

[Rukbat]

It could also be related to the fact that you had Samsung Pay linked to your Barclay's account, and that's what was paying - in the background. And the Barclay's app won't pay by NFC unless it's logged into. I'd contact Barclay's mobile app department. (Unfortunately, every one of their apps seems to have a different email address, so you're going to have to look in Pay for yours, and scroll down to the email address.)

 

[King Mustard]

It could also be related to the fact that you had Samsung Pay linked to your Barclay's account, and that's what was paying - in the background. And the Barclay's app won't pay by NFC unless it's logged into. I'd contact Barclay's mobile app department. (Unfortunately, every one of their apps seems to have a different email address, so you're going to have to look in Pay for yours, and scroll down to the email address.)

Ah, so Barclays supports Samsung Pay but not Google Pay?

That explains it, then.

Can't really use my phone to make payments, then. Too inconvenient.

Also too inconvenient to change entire banks.

Shame.

 

[VidJunky]

For what it's worth,

I tried to look and see if the app mentioned NFC and it they don't from what I could glean of the ones I looked at. Google Pay and Samsung Pay apps both mention control Near Field Communication, however, unless I'm looking in the wrong place on my device, NFC access doesn't seem to be a Google permission even though I found it under permissions for both those apps on their app pages.

The two things that are bothering me are;

King Mustard didn't believe that he had set up Samsung Pay on the previous device and the fact that it works on this device, although only when the banking app is open. Setting up Samsung Pay isn't something that you simply forget doing. It's also not something that is so easy to do that it could be done by accident. You also have to unlock Samsung Pay to use it, so there's no way, with the screen off you're making payments. Add that nothing is set-up on this current device and it works, if you have the app open. IDK but to me that says the app is responsible for the transfer of information over NFC and the device is controlling how, when and where. I think B. Diddy is on to something with Huawei and either how they handle background apps or NFC.

King, I would check your NFC settings to see if there was a way to have NFC on all of the time or when the screen was awake. I mean it wouldn't be too much trouble if all you had to do was wake the screen. It could be a permission on Huawei, I don't know if MFGs can make things outside of the Google list of permissions permissions, but I don't think even as a permission it would make much difference how it's managed or controlled in this case because you just want it on when the screen is off. It might be worth a look. If for no other reason S&G.

Personally, and this is just my opinion, I wouldn't want it to work as you described it working on your old S9. If the screen can be asleep and simply holding it up to a reader was enough to make payment, without any input on the users part, that sounds risky to me. I stopped carrying my new Capital One card out of fear of skimmers and if it is working all the time your phone could be just as susceptible.

 

[Rukbat]

If the bank has a decent IT department (and Barclay's should), adding NFC to their app is a minor programming job.