Accept Mobile Wallet Payments

Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay are all accepted mobile wallets for contactless transactions with Square.

There are important things to note as a Square seller and a cardholder when accepting payments with a digital wallet on smartphones or smartwatches — particularly regarding card tokenization.

Tokenization is a security measure that adds an extra level of safety to sensitive credit card data. It is the process of protecting sensitive data by replacing it with an algorithmically generated number called a token. Just like the use of chip and PIN cards, tokenization’s purpose is to prevent the bad guys from duplicating your bank information onto another card. But while chip and PIN cards protect against fraud that occurs when someone pays at a physical store, tokenization is primarily designed to fight online or digital breaches.

Learn more about payment tokenization via our Townsquare Resource Hub.

Below are scenarios that could occur when accepting digital wallets:

Different Card Number

You may notice the number on the payment is different from your payment card number. When a contactless payment is made through a digital wallet such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, a tokenised number is generated to serve as an ID for the payment. To clarify, the actual card number isn’t used for the NFC payment itself, but rather this generated payment token. This means neither Apple, Google nor your device sends your actual payment card number.

Digital wallet payments from Apple Pay and Google Pay will generate a unique card number which differs from the actual number of the card added to your digital wallet — this way your actual card numbers are never shared with merchants. This is done to provide additional security for Apple Pay and Google Pay customers while making payments both online and in-person.

For more help with Apple Pay or Google Pay-specific questions, please get in touch with Apple or Google directly.

Different Location

When your customer pays for their goods or services via a digital wallet such as Apple Pay or Google Pay the geofencing of the phone wallet may cause the location or merchant name to appear differently on their transaction history.

When your customers look at their bank statements, they’ll see the charge from your business reflected correctly, but Apple Pay or Google Pay may pick up nearby businesses based off that location service.

We would recommend that your customer contact Apple or Google Support if their digital wallet or card is picking up the incorrect merchant name.