Category: Android Pay

Android Pay has grown up since its introduction in May of 2015.  It launched with just a handful of major US banks at the time and the growth the first year was slow.  But through the latter half of 2016, that growth accelerated.  In 2017, the growth has been exponential.

Over the weekend, 16 new financial institutions joined the supported list for Android Pay and that brings the total number to a nice, even 1,000.  Indeed, nearly 400 new institutions have been added in 2017 along to give you an ideal of the growth rate.

2017 has been a stellar year for the growth of Android Pay.  The tap-to-pay service added 17 new banks and credit unions today which brings this years total of new institutions to over 300.  That’s a staggering number when you consider we still have a quarter of the year remaining.

As with many of the additions this year, today’s additions of banks & credit unions that support the tap-to-pay service are mostly regional and smaller institutions.  The vast majority of the major banks in the United States have supported it for a long while now, just as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

The growth of Android Pay in 2017 globally has been impressive, particularly here in the United States.  The tap-to-pay service has added new financial institutions nearly every month in 2017 and June is no exception.  Late on Friday, 60 new financial institutions added support for Android Pay.

The vast majority of these new additions are regional or local banks and Credit Unions.  The team over at Android Police have put together a list of all the new banks which includes:

• Great Lakes First Federal CU
• Gulf Coast Educators FCU
• Hoosier Heartland State Bank
• Isabella Bank
• Lakeside Bank
• Lamar Bank and Trust
• Libertyville Savings Bank
• Lone Star National Bank
• Los Angeles Police FCU

See the post at Android Police for the complete list.

Just a day after launching in Canada, Android Pay has expanded to another new country today.  Taiwan has now been added to the list of 13 countries where you can use your phone to tap-and-pay for products & services.  While it is good news for Taiwanese and for Android Pay in general, it does have some pretty significant limitations in the country.  Namely, at launch, the support of only two banks.

CTBC and First Bank are the only two banks that are supporting the service today but Google indicates in their post that other banks like EnTie, Hua Nan and Shin Kong are coming soon to the service.  Adding those three major banks would bring the service to a significantly larger number of users.  This limited bank support also puts them behind Apple Pay which is currently supported by 7 banks in country.

Back in April it was announced that PayPal would be integrating with Android Pay so it could be used as a payment option when you are using Android Pay at a retailer.  That integration now is starting to show up for users.  In the latest version of the PayPal app, you now have an option in settings to link the two payment services together.  This then allows you to select it as your payment option when you are at a retail pay terminal.

The feature is rolling out now and is a combination of an app update.  You need to make sure that you have the latest build of the PayPal app, version 6.12.0.  If you have that and still don’t see the update, it is a matter of it being server-side loaded to your account.

Мои русские друзья, это хороший день для вас!  Good news for those in Russia.  Android Pay has come to your country with 15 banks supporting it.  The tap-to-pay service has been rumored for weeks to be coming to the country but Google made it official on their Russian site today.  It’s good news for a country and good for Android Pay as it continues its slow march across the planet.

As for the banks supported, here is the rundown:

• Sberbank
• Alfa-Bank
• VTB24
• Russian Standard Bank
• Raiffeisen Bank
• Bank Otkritie
• Rocketbank
• Tochka
• Russian Agricultural Bank
• Yandex.Money
• B&N Bank
• Tinkoff
• Promsvyazbank
• Ak Bars Bank
• MTS Bank

While it certainly isn’t every bank in the country, key large banks within the country on on the list which means it will hit a large percentage of customers.