Four alternatives to paying without card or cash | Your technology | Country

It is increasingly common to see people paying using their cell phone or mobile phone. smart watch in stores, bringing them closer to a compatible POS terminal or data phone. These are the so-called payments contactlessthat is, those that are executed no contact. And its growing popularity is clear from the data: while cash continues to be the payment method used by the highest percentage of people in brick-and-mortar establishments on a daily basis, followed by cards, 25% of users are already using mobile devices; a figure that increases from year to year.

The technology that makes this possible is NFC (Near contact communicationEnglish abbreviation), from which new identification cards, public transport cards in some cities, or keys to enter some buildings are made. It is a wireless technology that allows two devices to be connected over a very short distance; Since you usually have to touch them to operate, it is virtually impossible to interfere with remote data transfers, so this is a very secure method.

First on a smartphone

IN smartphones NFC technology has been around for quite some time – the first to integrate it was the Google Nexus S in 2010 – although its original use was very different from its current one: it served to connect devices (for example, a mobile phone with headphones). ), placing them in a contact, or to send files as an alternative to Bluetooth. Once virtual wallet apps like Google Pay or Apple Pay were developed (and all the security they entail), it could also be used to pay in stores.

It then began to be integrated into smartwatches, and today many models from major brands are also compatible with payments. contactless: Apple Watch, Fitbit Sense, Samsung Galaxy Watch, Xiaomi Mi Watch… The system of use is the same: open the payment application, select a card, if several are configured, and go to the card.

Smartwatches that don’t have this option among their features can add it by simply changing the band, as long as they use a band like Polar’s, compatible with all of their sports watches, as well as any others that use standard 20 and 22mm bands , including traditional watches. . In this case, you must use the Fidesmo Play application to link payment cards; a reliable system, since the bracelet only stores the card token, and not the card data itself.

Finally, let’s talk about smart rings, which have been becoming popular in recent months – or at least many manufacturers are introducing their models and describing them as the following. gadget trendy – and they included this option too. While some are primarily focused on activity monitoring, there are others whose primary function is making payments, such as the Rikki, a Spanish-made model that adheres to a minimalist aesthetic and is made of hypoallergenic ceramic that is scratch, water, and impact resistant. ; or cnick, which attracts a lot of attention because to pay you need to knock your knuckles a couple of times on the payment terminal and wait a couple of seconds for the transaction to complete.

Contactless payments safe?

The truth is that the experts think so. One of the biggest risks when it comes to wireless connections is that someone could intercept the connection and steal the data (in this case the card), but with NFC technology this is very difficult because the phone and the device that is used to payment must be very close. Additionally, NFC communication is encrypted and hidden, so businesses never have access to card information.

Anyway, if you want to take extreme precautions, what can you do? Among the most recommended are to set a double authentication factor to access digital wallets and make payments or transfers, enable notifications to always be aware of transactions, never use public Wi-Fi networks, and create strong passwords for banking information apps.