7 Ways to Pay Using an iPhone

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Google Wallet only works on Android devices, but did you know your iPhone can work like a credit card, too? Check out these free virtual payment apps for iOS, and leave your wallet behind.

If I could see one consumer technology be adopted faster, it would be virtual payment systems. How we handle financial transactions is okay at best, which is to say there's loads of room for improvement.

The pocket PC—I mean, "smartphone"—should be our primary device for information, communication, and other day-to-day activities, which includes monetary transactions. There's no excuse for the clunky, insecure, and outdated systems of credit cards and cash that we use now.

Whether we're shoe shopping or just trying to pay back friends at the end of a restaurant meal, we now have the technology to improve financial transactions, so let's start using them!

Maybe you've heard of Google Wallet,an app that turns your phone into a credit card. But Google Wallet is only available for a very limited number of Android phones, and it only works in stores that have a MasterCard PayPass reader. You can use any major credit or debit card (the MasterCard part of the name just means that the company owns PayPass, not that it's restricted to credit cards issued by the company).

iPhone users do have a few alternatives, though, some of which open up the range of shopping possibilities well beyond the large chain stores that have a PayPass machine installed. Many of the virtual payment systems that might be considered Google Wallet contenders in fact embrace small businesses and even individuals, giving them nimble systems for taking your money.

All the virtual payment apps in this article are free to install and don't use NFC chips. None of them require a PayPass reader either.

Many of these apps give you an option to add PIN protection. When it's available, use it. PINs aren't foolproof, but they do provide one more layer of security that you'd rather have than not.

Here are seven apps that enable virtual payments on an iPhone.

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Friday's (T. G. I. Friday's)
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Friday's (T. G. I. Friday's)

Friday's (T. G. I. Friday's)
In April, the restaurant chain T. G. I. Friday's released a mobile app for iPhone and Android that lets customers start a tab, keep track of their bill, and pay it right from their phone. The app integrates with Friday's point-of-sale software, letting customers pay their bill without the need for additional hardware. When a user opens a tab within the app, they are presented with a five-digit code to show their server. The server then enters the code on the restaurant's point-of-sale system, and the payment is processed like any other. Like Starbuck's app, it's rather specific in use, but it presents another option for ways to pay—as long as you enjoy those after-work apple-tinis.
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