5 Reasons You Can Trust Apple Pay and Google Pay

With new technology always comes new concerns for safety and security—with something so new, how can we tell what might happen? Although Apple Pay and Google Pay have been around for a while, there’s still skepticism as to how they work and how safe they actually are. The short answer is that they are perfectly safe, but we’ll break down the reasons here!

Credit Card and Debit Card Fraud

There was a time when credit card and debit card fraud were incredibly easy. Some hacker could just find your card number on the internet and go out on an uninterrupted shopping spree. Only when you noticed something strange could the criminal be stopped. With the implementation of EMV chips, this has been growing less and less common, but some think contactless payment services are a way criminals can still commit fraud.

The reality is, Apple Pay and Google Pay make it incredibly difficult to have your information stolen--especially with features like Apple Pay’s Touch & Face ID.

Touch & Face ID

No contactless payment method is 100% secure, but Apple Pay does have an important added layer of protection that sets it apart—touch & face ID. Most payment services only have device ID, which means with your device someone could just walk into a store and buy something. With no authentication necessary for payments below $30, the criminal could rack up a lot of spending quickly. Apple Pay, however, uses biometric authentication to authorize purchases of any size. So if someone tries to pay with your phone, it won’t work.

What If You Lose Your Phone?

If you have an iPhone, you should set up the Find My iPhone feature. This way you can instantly suspend payment apps by putting your missing device into “lost mode.” You can also take this a step further by removing payment apps from your lost phone altogether via iCloud.

Google Pay users have a similar feature called Find My Device, which allows users to find, lock or erase their phone. Just be sure this is turned on. According to Google, this feature is automatically enabled when logging into your Google Account from your phone, but is easily verified in device settings.

If you lose your phone and you don’t have these features set up, don’t worry! Apple only keeps a fragment of your card information in their database, so even if someone had your phone they couldn’t just copy down your card number. And of course, they wouldn’t have your fingerprint or face to authorize any purchases with your phone. As for Google, they don’t store any of your card details on your phone either, so again there’s no risk of compromising your card information.

Apple Pay, Google Pay, PeoplesPay

Of course, with Peoples Bank, you have another option for sending and receiving money - PeoplesPay. This is our platform for quickly and easily sending money to friends and family--and just like Apple Pay and Google Pay, it’s completely secure. For more financial advice, contact Peoples Bank today!