Tap-to-Pay Options for GrapheneOS

In the USA, we only have a couple of options for tap-to-pay. Now the actual physical plastic cards themselves pretty much all have the little chip to tap. We're up to date with that now, but using a digital wallet on our phone to pay in a physical store is different. That's what I'm talking about here.

I have a privacy phone, GrapheneOS An alternative to Android or iOS on phones. , and when you have that, you CAN'T use Apple Pay or Google Pay in the store. Google Wallet works ok for me with Google Play Services installed, but Google won't recognize your device as legit in order to enroll it in tap-to-pay.

Graphene and Google Play Services

USA - no option I know of

One of my banks says they have tap-to-pay with their own app, but I don't see it as an option, and the website talks about an old app that's been retired. My other bank suggests using Google or Apple wallets and turning on tap to pay there. You might want to check your bank out if they say they have something, but since mine says they do and they don't.... I'm not sure.

Let me know if you find anything!

the_crosswalk_blog@protonmail.com

If you have a smartwatch of some kind, it MAY work, but I don't have one so I can't tell you.

It seems like Samsung Pay worked at one time, but not anymore.

Outside the USA - You guys have some options!

I wish I could be more specific, since the world is huge. It seemed like a lot of Europeans report having luck, but I'm not sure about the details. I've seen the following services that people report using for NFC tap-to-pay payments:

• Curve Pay
• Garmin smartwatch with payment loaded
• Bank app

Curve and Garmin might be specific to Europe, and I'm not sure if the Garmin option is available in the USA.

Conclusion

If you're in the USA like me, you might be best off putting a payment method in an app and interacting with the store on the app if you need this type of feature. It sure helped me when I got stuck without money and almost out of gas. (this link takes you to Google's YouTube)

Put virtual cards on apps though, so you can revoke authorization for the vendor to charge to it in case you get locked out of the app or account, like I did with Starbucks. This is especially important for when that services or company is hacked. You don't have to worry about your card being used if it's virtual and you deleted it.

However, don't hesitate to ask friends for help, like I learned from trying to write a much longer post about tap-to-pay. I ended up learning something else instead.

Image Credit: Pavel Danilyuk https://www.pexels.com/@pavel-danilyuk/