Android Pay arrives in Spain

Android Pay arrives in Spain

Google's payment service is only available with BBVA

   If Santander is the traveling companion of Apple Pay, Android has chosen BBVA. The great American technology companies already have their mobile payment systems in place in the two most important Spanish banking groups.

Android has launched its platform in Spain on Thursday, the sixth market in the old continent where it lands. To use it, you only need an Android phone, the application and be a BBVA customer with a MasterCard or Visa card.

   The payment system of the search giant will have to share the market with Apple Pay, which arrived in Spain at the end of 2016 and also with Samsung Pay, which landed in June last year.

With payment with Android Pay, your card number is not shared with the store, as it uses a virtual account number instead, which represents the account information. "In this way, the data of your card remains always protected and safe. If you ever lose your phone or it is stolen, you can use Android Device Manager to locate it, lock it remotely remotely, protect it with a new password or erase all the content of your device, "Google said in a statement.

To make a purchase, it is only necessary to check that the phone is activated with the screen on and bring it closer to the payment terminal; "You do not have to unlock it or open the app," adds Google. Once the purchase is finished, the transaction information is received on the phone.

Android Pay will work in more than one million stores throughout Spain that accept contactless payments (contacless) bringing the device to point of sale (POS) terminals, including the establishments of the chains El Corte Inglés, VIPS, Zara, Lidl, Mediamarkt, Ginos and others.