Tap to Pay on Android: take cards with the phone you already have

If your Android phone can pay in a shop with a tap, it can usually take a payment the same way. The part that makes it work is NFC, the short-range chip behind contactless payments. With Tap to Pay on Android, your phone is the card reader.

What you need

• An Android phone with NFC, switched on in Settings, running Android 13 or later.
• The Pavo app from Google Play.
• A bank account for your payouts.

No reader, no dongle, no pairing.

How a sale goes

1. Open Pavo and type the amount.
2. Tap Charge.
3. Your customer holds their card, phone or watch to your phone.
4. You see Paid, with the fee and what you get.

The first time you charge, Pavo asks a few questions so Stripe can confirm who you are and where to send your money. After that, a sale is quick.

What it costs

A tap costs 2.9% + 15¢ on the Free plan, card processing included. There is no monthly fee and no fee for standard payouts. On a $48.00 sale the fee is $1.54 and you get $46.46.

If your phone has no NFC

You can still take cards. Send a pay link, or show a QR code on your screen. Your customer pays in their own browser. That costs 3.3% + 30¢ per payment.

Where it works

Tap to Pay on Android works with Pavo in the United States and in most of the other countries where Pavo is open. Rates outside the United States are different. The questions on the home page list each country and its fee.

A tip for the first tap

The NFC chip sits in a different place on each phone, often near the middle or the top of the back. On your first sale, ask your customer to move the card slowly across the back of the phone until it reads. After that you will know the spot.

What your customer needs

A contactless card, or a phone or watch with a card in its wallet. They do not install anything and they do not sign in to anything. If their card has the small wave symbol, it will work.

Is it safe?

Card details are handled by Stripe. They are not stored by Pavo and they are not kept on your phone. The tap uses the same contactless technology as the readers in shops.

One account, any screen

Your Pavo account is not tied to one phone. Sign in on a new Android phone, on an iPhone, or at getpavo.app on a computer, and your sales and payouts are the same everywhere. If your phone is lost or broken on a working day, you can sign in on another one and keep taking payments.

After the sale

You can email your customer a receipt. Every payment is listed with the amount, the fee and what you got, and you can refund a sale from the app, all of it or part of it. Pavo does not return its fee when you refund a sale. Standard payouts to your bank happen on their own: the first usually takes about a week, then two business days in the United States.