{"slug": "google-pay", "name": "Google Pay", "category": "finance", "category_name": "Finance", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 17, "warners": 9, "score": -3.798, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2025-11-19", "latest": "2026-08-28", "why": "I use Google/Android Pay (or whatever it's called now) for NFC payments and have since 2018", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 4, "compare": 1, "warn": 9}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I use Google/Android Pay (or whatever it's called now) for NFC payments and have since 2018", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://pay.google.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Google Pay"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 786386880, "item_id": 49149180, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49149180", "by": "ddeeo", "date": "2026-08-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Google/Android Pay (or whatever it's called now) for NFC payments and have since 2018", "excerpt": "Haven't used a normal card in over a decade. I don't think my bank actually makes physical cards anymore, last time my card expired I just had a popup in the bank app that told me I have a new card. This was like 2-3 years ago. I use Google/Android Pay (or whatever it's called now) for NFC payments and have since 2018 and never carried a physical card since. I would never use a physical card with NFC anyway because i", "context": "", "use_case": "NFC payments", "switched_from": "", "story": "A big win for Android interoperability"}, {"id": 753479520, "item_id": 47092470, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47092470", "by": "kelnos", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have all my credit cards in GPay", "excerpt": "For me, the showstopper would be NFC payments. From what I understand, Google Pay doesn't work on Graphene. I have all my credit cards in GPay, as well as a transit card. I use it for boarding passes when I fly, and any other tickets/passes that support it, since it tends to be much more reliable than the airline or ticketer's app. I've come to heavily rely on it, unfortunately.", "context": "", "use_case": "credit cards and transit passes", "switched_from": "", "story": "F-Droid: \"Keep Android Open\""}, {"id": 748824528, "item_id": 46801533, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46801533", "by": "expedition32", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Google Pay for basically everything.", "excerpt": "As much as I complain about Google I use Google Pay for basically everything. I'm not even taking my wallet with me...", "context": "", "use_case": "Mobile payments", "switched_from": "", "story": "Amazone One palm authentication discontinued"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 789863761, "item_id": 49366485, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49366485", "by": "grapheneos", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Pay will likely continue banning using GrapheneOS for the foreseeable future", "excerpt": "Tap-to-pay is available on GrapheneOS via Curve Pay in the European Economic Area + UK, PayPal in parts of Europe and many European banking apps. Google Pay will likely continue banning using GrapheneOS for the foreseeable future until regulators crack down on Google's overall anti-competitive behavior with Android and Google Play. 90% of banking apps do already work on GrapheneOS: https://privsec.dev/posts/android/b", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones"}, {"id": 757028288, "item_id": 47314268, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47314268", "by": "jeroenhd", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "switched to Google Pay which does require Play Integrity", "excerpt": "My banking app works fine on a rooted phone that I don't bother faking a proper Play Integrity signature for. Except for a warning about the phone being rooted when setting it up, of course. I'm not 100% sure what happens when you have integrity and lose it by rooting your phone, but I imagine the bank app will log you out. Bank apps only stop working because banks decided they know better than you. Unfortunately my ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Jolla on track to ship new phone with Sailfish OS, user-replaceable battery"}, {"id": 755500610, "item_id": 47218788, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47218788", "by": "Andromxda", "date": "2026-03-02", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Pay requires the OS to be specifically whitelisted by Google.", "excerpt": "> Are you sure about this? It was my understanding that NFC passes for gyms and stuff worked This is only true for Google Wallet. It can be used as a normal wallet app for stuff like plane tickets, etc., but Google Pay requires the OS to be specifically whitelisted by Google. This is an incredibly anti-competitive move aimed at supporting Google's monopoly by deliberately disabling functionality on alternative (inclu", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS Foundation"}, {"id": 753877490, "item_id": 47117343, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47117343", "by": "xethos", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "getting Google Pay can apparently be a challenge", "excerpt": "My Zinwa (full-device, not kit) BlackBerry actually showed up, and has been my daily for several weeks. It's fantastic, and I adore it. I love the trackpad, and use it for scrolling and cursor-placement in text daily. The keyboard is an actual, honest-to-god RIM keyboard, and it feels like it. Batteries have gotten denser, but the screen is still small, and I ditched GApps - so my battery life is measured in days. To", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "In World Without BlackBerry, Physical Keyboards on Phones Are Making a Comeback"}]}], "who": [{"by": "sho_hn", "context": "has no credit card", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49475036", "date": "2026-08-28"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["payments", "nfc payments", "contactless payments", "credit cards and transit passes", "mobile payments"], "compared": [{"slug": "grapheneos", "name": "GrapheneOS", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "apple-pay", "name": "Apple Pay", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "lineageos", "name": "LineageOS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "paypal", "name": "PayPal", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49473483", "title": "Stripe said to abandon $50B pursuit of PayPal", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49360242", "title": "GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49124051", "title": "A big win for Android interoperability", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49137681", "title": "Google News is just Forrest Gump's shrimp boat now", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48561654", "title": "GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48050964", "title": "Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"warn": 1}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"warn": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"warn": 3, "recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"warn": 2}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {"compare": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 791600577, "item_id": 49475036, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49475036", "by": "sho_hn", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "PayPal is the payment method I use for Google Pay", "excerpt": "> online is dead too, no app uses paypal PayPal is the payment method I use for Google Pay, so pretty much everything goes through it. (I don't have a credit card, which is common where I live.)", "context": "has no credit card", "use_case": "payments", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stripe said to abandon $50B pursuit of PayPal"}, {"id": 789863761, "item_id": 49366485, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49366485", "by": "grapheneos", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Pay will likely continue banning using GrapheneOS for the foreseeable future", "excerpt": "Tap-to-pay is available on GrapheneOS via Curve Pay in the European Economic Area + UK, PayPal in parts of Europe and many European banking apps. Google Pay will likely continue banning using GrapheneOS for the foreseeable future until regulators crack down on Google's overall anti-competitive behavior with Android and Google Play. 90% of banking apps do already work on GrapheneOS: https://privsec.dev/posts/android/b", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones"}, {"id": 786386880, "item_id": 49149180, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49149180", "by": "ddeeo", "date": "2026-08-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Google/Android Pay (or whatever it's called now) for NFC payments and have since 2018", "excerpt": "Haven't used a normal card in over a decade. I don't think my bank actually makes physical cards anymore, last time my card expired I just had a popup in the bank app that told me I have a new card. This was like 2-3 years ago. I use Google/Android Pay (or whatever it's called now) for NFC payments and have since 2018 and never carried a physical card since. I would never use a physical card with NFC anyway because i", "context": "", "use_case": "NFC payments", "switched_from": "", "story": "A big win for Android interoperability"}, {"id": 786211904, "item_id": 49138244, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138244", "by": "Quothling", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "any of their products other than google pay, maps and youtube music", "excerpt": "I have nothing to contribute to the google discussion, it's been a while since I used any of their products other than google pay, maps and youtube music. The big migrant crisis in Europe was in 2015 though. We get these things in smaller scale like what is happening in Ceuta and with the Spanish supreme court, but the big thing was back in 2015. In 2021 everything was locked down. Unless you're speaking about a spec", "context": "", "use_case": "payments", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google News is just Forrest Gump's shrimp boat now"}, {"id": 777075744, "item_id": 48567234, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48567234", "by": "orthoxerox", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "compare", "quote": "instead of Google Pay I use my bank's app for contactless payments", "excerpt": "I am not North American, but instead of Google Pay I use my bank's app for contactless payments.", "context": "", "use_case": "Contactless payments", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon"}, {"id": 768841488, "item_id": 48052593, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48052593", "by": "Hamuko", "date": "2026-05-07", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Google Pay works for a limited amount of uses in offline mode.", "excerpt": "Google Pay works for a limited amount of uses in offline mode. https://9to5google.com/2023/12/20/google-wallet-without-internet/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers"}, {"id": 757028288, "item_id": 47314268, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47314268", "by": "jeroenhd", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "switched to Google Pay which does require Play Integrity", "excerpt": "My banking app works fine on a rooted phone that I don't bother faking a proper Play Integrity signature for. Except for a warning about the phone being rooted when setting it up, of course. I'm not 100% sure what happens when you have integrity and lose it by rooting your phone, but I imagine the bank app will log you out. Bank apps only stop working because banks decided they know better than you. Unfortunately my ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Jolla on track to ship new phone with Sailfish OS, user-replaceable battery"}, {"id": 755500610, "item_id": 47218788, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47218788", "by": "Andromxda", "date": "2026-03-02", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Pay requires the OS to be specifically whitelisted by Google.", "excerpt": "> Are you sure about this? It was my understanding that NFC passes for gyms and stuff worked This is only true for Google Wallet. It can be used as a normal wallet app for stuff like plane tickets, etc., but Google Pay requires the OS to be specifically whitelisted by Google. This is an incredibly anti-competitive move aimed at supporting Google's monopoly by deliberately disabling functionality on alternative (inclu", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS Foundation"}, {"id": 753877490, "item_id": 47117343, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47117343", "by": "xethos", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "getting Google Pay can apparently be a challenge", "excerpt": "My Zinwa (full-device, not kit) BlackBerry actually showed up, and has been my daily for several weeks. It's fantastic, and I adore it. I love the trackpad, and use it for scrolling and cursor-placement in text daily. The keyboard is an actual, honest-to-god RIM keyboard, and it feels like it. Batteries have gotten denser, but the screen is still small, and I ditched GApps - so my battery life is measured in days. To", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "In World Without BlackBerry, Physical Keyboards on Phones Are Making a Comeback"}, {"id": 753479520, "item_id": 47092470, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47092470", "by": "kelnos", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have all my credit cards in GPay", "excerpt": "For me, the showstopper would be NFC payments. From what I understand, Google Pay doesn't work on Graphene. I have all my credit cards in GPay, as well as a transit card. I use it for boarding passes when I fly, and any other tickets/passes that support it, since it tends to be much more reliable than the airline or ticketer's app. I've come to heavily rely on it, unfortunately.", "context": "", "use_case": "credit cards and transit passes", "switched_from": "", "story": "F-Droid: \"Keep Android Open\""}, {"id": 752751093, "item_id": 47046943, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47046943", "by": "BLKNSLVR", "date": "2026-02-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I'd also recommend to slowly migrate to GrapheneOS, getting to know where the boundaries are for specific apps. Once you've got your 'dailies' all up and running predictably, then you're good to go, but it could take a few days depending on how much spare time you have to find said boundaries. Having said that, I turn on most of the higher level security protections, which quite a few apps need exceptions from. But, ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS \u2013 Break Free from Google and Apple"}, {"id": 750623576, "item_id": 46913973, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46913973", "by": "tgtweak", "date": "2026-02-06", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the payment processors (paypal, apple pay, google pay) are all making money on their obscene 1%+ processing markups", "excerpt": "Tiktok ads, Youtube Ads, Instagram/Meta ads - there's just a huge influx of scams and obviously fake sites on them. AI generated copy, AI generated landing pages... My honest take on it is that it's the payment companies that are complacent here - they're just allowing payment processing for anyone now up to a certain amount before doing proper diligence. The fact these chinese vendors can spin up a website, get paym", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}, {"id": 748824528, "item_id": 46801533, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46801533", "by": "expedition32", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Google Pay for basically everything.", "excerpt": "As much as I complain about Google I use Google Pay for basically everything. I'm not even taking my wallet with me...", "context": "", "use_case": "Mobile payments", "switched_from": "", "story": "Amazone One palm authentication discontinued"}, {"id": 748672994, "item_id": 46792062, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46792062", "by": "VorpalWay", "date": "2026-01-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Pay cares, and I don't use it thus", "excerpt": "At least BankId (digital ID thing in Sweden) and some of the Swedish banking apps don't care about if you are rooted on stock Android. I haven't tried custom ROMs in many years, but perhaps it is time for GrapheneOS these days. Now, if you want to use your phone as a debit/credit card substitute that is different (Google Pay cares, and I don't use it thus). Anyway, why should banking apps care? It is not like they ca", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Lennart Poettering, Christian Brauner founded a new company"}, {"id": 747822321, "item_id": 46738895, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46738895", "by": "vel0city", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "So add another layer of duopoly and middlemen to the way I pay for things.", "excerpt": "> if every site accepted both Apple Pay and Google Pay we'd be there. So add another layer of duopoly and middlemen to the way I pay for things. No thanks! What happens when Google permabans me because I failed to pay a $0.50 cloud bill a few months ago and I got forever locked out of my iCloud account? Guess I can't buy anything online again ever. Don't get me wrong I've used these for payment processing before, but", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Capital One to buy fintech firm Brex in $5.15B deal"}, {"id": 739167280, "item_id": 46197955, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46197955", "by": "chasil", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Google Pay will certainly run on my Lineage OnePlus 5", "excerpt": "I have never tried this, as I am happier with RFID on my individual credit cards. However, Google Pay will certainly run on my Lineage OnePlus 5. It will not provision localhost, but I am guessing that it will provision a watch. I would go buy the parts and try it just to know, but I doubt interest would remain here by the time I assembled everything. Edit: Graphene has a page on this subject, and Garmin appears to b", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google confirms Android attacks; no fix for most Samsung users"}, {"id": 735812560, "item_id": 45988285, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45988285", "by": "degamad", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "warn", "quote": "is easily mistaken to mean \"save to my interested list\"", "excerpt": "It does not seem impossible to anyone who has watched someone use a computer for a few minutes... A bright green button from google pay saying \"click here to secure your interest in this car\" is easily mistaken to mean \"save to my interested list\" rather than \"place a deposit on this\". We know how hard it is to even find the download button on a website: https://www.howtogeek.com/how-to-spot-the-real-download-button-", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Measuring the impact of AI scams on the elderly"}]}