Why trust Greenbot
Goodbye, llet! It’s Android y’s time to shine. has finally souped up its mobile payments system—though not too much. It’s a pretty straightforward upgrade, with a few new features added to make it more secure than its predecessor. If you’re interested in using it yourself, here’s a quick primer on what you need to know about Android y.
at is Android y?
Android y is ’s new mobile payment platform. It uses the existing NFC chip in your phone, just like llet. If you had llet setup beforeh, all of that existing payment information will transfer over to Android y—it’s essentially the same A. Android y will also work for person-to-person payment transactions the app will also let you store any supported loyalty cards.
How does it work?
t’s say you’re at a vending machine that accepts NFC payments. l you have to do is hold up the phone to the machine to pay for the beverage. An alert on the vending machine’s small display will let you know if the transaction was successful. st make sure to aim your NFC chip at the machine.
Android y works with even the most common of transcations—like getting a soda from a vending machine.
Those setting up the payment system for the first time will have to enable a device lock—either a numerical passcode, pattern unlock, or fingerprint unlock, if the phone has the hardware.
ll Android y work with my non-Nexus device?
Yes. Android y works with any Android phone, regardless of manufacturer, as long as it’s running KitKat or higher. Non-Nexus phones with integrated fingerprint scanning will also work—like the Galaxy S5 S6, for instance.
As for carriers, has only announced that it’s working on Android y with AT&T, Verizon reless, T-Mobile. Sorry, Sprint folk.
How does keep my information secure?
Android y is very straight forward, you can choose it as a payment option in supporting apps.
Android y transmits a special authorization token to merchants, so the merchant on the other end will never see your credit card number. It will, however, know if you paid with a Visa or MasterCard, for instance.
at’s the difference between this Samsung y?
Samsung y doesn’t actually use NFC. It works a lot like opy, which we tested against llet back in February. (You can read all about that experience here.) Anyway, Samsung’s mobile payments system won’t go live until this summer.
said that Android y will work alongside Samsung y on the Galaxy S6.
