How do I pay with my phone or watch?

Paying by phone is one of the few technologies that is genuinely more secure than the thing it replaces, and the reasons are worth understanding before deciding whether to use it.

Step by step

1. Find the wallet app that came with the device.It is built in on both major phone platforms and cannot be replaced by a third-party app for contactless payment. Your bank's own app may also offer to add the card for you.
2. Add the card.Photograph it or type the long number, expiry and security code. The bank then verifies you, usually with a code by text or through their app.
3. Set a default card if you add more than one.The default is what is offered when you double-press or hold the phone to the reader. Others are selectable at the moment of paying.
4. Understand why there is no contactless limit.A plastic card tap is capped because anyone holding the card can use it. A phone payment is authenticated by your face, fingerprint or passcode each time, so the limit does not apply — though individual shops can still set their own.
5. Understand the token.The wallet stores a device-specific number, not your card number. A shop that is later breached has a token that is useless elsewhere, which is why this is safer than handing over the card.
6. Add the card to a watch separately if you have one.A watch holds its own token and is set up through the phone. It usually requires the watch to be unlocked on your wrist, and it stays usable if the phone's battery dies.
7. Know what happens if the phone is lost.Use the manufacturer's find-my-device service to mark it lost, which suspends the cards without cancelling them. The plastic card keeps working, so there is usually no need to cancel it.
8. Check the low-power behaviour.Some phones keep payment available for a short period after the battery dies; others do not. Do not rely on it as your only means of paying for a journey home.

Tips

• Keep one plastic card as a backup. Some machines, car parks and small shops still fail with phone payment.
• Transactions show up in the wallet with the merchant's name and location, which makes spotting an unfamiliar payment far easier than a bank statement.
• Adding a card to a wallet does not change the account's protections — Section 75 and chargeback still apply as they would to the card itself.

Common mistakes

• Cancelling the physical card after losing the phone — Unnecessary in most cases. Marking the device lost suspends the wallet tokens, and the card number was never shared with shops in the first place.
• Turning off the passcode to make paying faster — The passcode or biometric is what makes phone payment secure and unlimited. Without it, the wallet will not function anyway.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask