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Tap on Phone

Accept payments with your mobile phone

A cost-effective solution for businesses to to accept payments with just a mobile phone — no additional hardware needed.

Business owner accepting a customer's payment by mobile phone

115+

markets where Tap on Phone is live1

95%

of merchants said they would consider using tap-to-mobile technology2

65m

 businesses are cash only globally3

How it works

Tap on Phone allows businesses to accept payments from any contactless card or mobile wallet right from their NFC-enabled device. Getting started is as easy as downloading an app and creating an account with a payment provider.

Simple, safe and low-cost payments

Tap on Phone helps merchants better serve their customers.

Contactless acceptance

Accept payments from contactless-enabled cards, mobile wallets, and smartwatches.

Paperless receipts

Send customers their receipts through SMS or email.

No terminal required

Download a mobile application on your NFC-enabled device and start accepting.

Solution integration

Easily enable value-added services such as invoicing, inventory management and reporting.

Security

Tap on Phone transactions are card present contactless EMV transactions and use the same security technology. Transactions are processed by Tap on Phone.

Small business owner using Tap on Phone to accept payment from customer.

Use Cases

TRANSIT

Help consumers get to their next destination with a simple Tap to Pay with a ticket agent.

Customer using phone at ticket agent.

PAY ON DELIVERY

Let consumers tap to pay for deliveries at their doorstep without the need for cash.

Customer on their doorstep using Pay on Delivery.

QUEUE BUSTING

Cut wait times and increase sales by allowing customers to check out in line.

Customer in line waiting.

EVENTS AND CHARITY

Use contactless payment technology to accept payments or donations anytime and anywhere.

Family eating popcorn at an outdoor event.

CASH-ONLY MERCHANT

Offers SMEs and mobile venues flexible, low-cost card acceptance solutions with Tap on Phone.

Two customers ordering from food truck.

CURBSIDE PICKUP

Enable consumers to check out seamlessly when picking up an order.

Customer picking up delivery curbside.

Tap to own device

Tap to more use cases

As Tap on Phone evolves, Mastercard remains an industry thought leader by offering a framework and support for launching emerging use cases.

Tap to add

Allows consumers to add their contactless card into a device wallet, merchant app or e-commerce wallet.

Tap to verify

Allows consumers to verify that they’re in possession of their card while making transactions online.

Tap to activate

Allows consumers to activate their card via their digital banking app.

Tap to pay

Allows consumers to make e-commerce payments by tapping their contactless card on their phone.

Tap to send or receive

Allows consumers to tap their card or mobile phone against another person’s phone to send or receive money.

Resources

Tools to support implementation

Access guides, case studies and more to support your implementation efforts.

Implementation guide

Understand all the steps needed to deploy a Tap on Phone solution.

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Go-To-Market guide

Learn about important GTM considerations for launching Tap on Phone solutions in market.

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Merchant guide

Read this overview to learn about the benefits of using Tap on Phone, the requirements, the setup and how to use the solution.

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Activation guide

Prepare for commercial success and gain insight into key success drivers for Tap on Phone deployments.

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1. Mastercard Propriety Data, 2024. ↩

2. NMI, Merchants and Consumers Approve of Tap to Mobile Payments, 2022. ↩

3. Euromonitor Consulting, Where to Pay: Cash Merchants, 2022. ↩

* Currently there are no PCI Industry standards for Tap to More use cases, and they may be subject to local regulatory review and approval. Solutions intended for Tap to More use cases must be based on Mastercard approved specifications and should ensure proper compliance with PCI DSS standards and scheme requirements. Please contact us to learn more about Mastercard’s requirements.