Google’s Android Pay is coming to the UK, letting you pay with mobile on the Tube and across the high street, including Pret, Starbucks, Waitrose and more
Users of Android will soon be able to use their smartphone to pay for items and even travel to work, as Google prepares to launch Android Pay in the UK following hot on the heels of Apple Pay.
Google said it will roll out "in the coming months" with the backing of Britain's biggest banks, but did not give an exact date,
Android users who have debit cards, Mastercard or Visa credit cards with Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank, MBNA and Nationwide Building Society will be able to use the new feature.
Google said it intends to add more banks "all the time" and notably missing from the line up right now is Barclays.
When Apple Pay launched last year, Barclays confirmed it would be on board at some point in the future, but is yet to support it. It has instead focused on its own contactless payment devices bPay, which include wristbands and stickers.
Places which will support Android Pay include Starbucks, Boots, Pret and Waitrose, and it can be used across the London transport network, including trains, Tube and buses. It can also be used for easier payments on many websites, such as Zara and Deliveroo.
More than 1.5m people already use Android Pay in the US where it was introduced in September last year. Google has previously dabbled in mobile payments with Google Wallet, launched in 2011 and early last year bought startup Softcard, the NFC payment technology from which has been incorporated into Android Pay.