Tap to Pay

Use Tap to Pay on Android to accept in-person contactless payments with compatible NFC-equipped Android devices.

Tap to Pay on Android includes support for Visa, Mastercard, and American Express contactless cards and NFC-based mobile wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay). Stripe includes Tap to Pay on Android in the Terminal Android SDK and the Terminal React Native SDK, and enables payments directly in your Android mobile app.

Availability

Available in Beta

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Supported devices

Tap to Pay on Android works with a variety of Android devices such as mobile phones, kiosks, tablets, handheld devices, and so on. You won’t be able to discover or connect to devices that don’t meet all of the following criteria:

• Contains functioning NFC antenna and chipset
• Isn’t rooted and device bootloader is locked and unchanged
• Runs a current version of Android (Android 11 or above)
• Uses Google Mobile Services and has the Google Play Store app installed
• Has a hardware backed keystore
• Supports generating key pairs using a variety of key algorithms, including RSA and AES from the Android keystore
• A stable connection to the internet
• Runs the unmodified manufacturer provided OS

Android device emulators aren’t supported by Tap to Pay.

Device types

Supported device types include, but aren’t limited to:

Some manufacturers produce both GMS and non-GMS certified devices. If you’re using a non-GMS certified device you’ll receive an error when attempting to connect the device saying ATTESTATION_FAILURE: Device is not Google Mobile Services (GMS) certified. If this happens, contact the manufacturer to resolve the issue.

Mobile phones

Supported mobile phones include, but aren’t limited to:

User interface

Tap to Pay on Android includes payment collection screens. When your application is ready to collect a payment, the Stripe Terminal SDK takes over the display to handle the collection process. After you call the collect payment method, your application continues to run while Tap to Pay displays a full-screen prompt that instructs the cardholder to tap their card or NFC-based mobile wallet. If there’s an error reading the card, a prompt for retry displays. A successful tap returns a success indication and then your application regains control to confirm the payment.

Device-specific NFC tap zone UI

The Tap to Pay on Android SDK supports device-specific UX that dynamically indicates to the end user where the tap zone is located on the device. View examples of what the UX might look like in practice:

UX Configuration

You can override the default UX using the Terminal Android SDK, including colors of the tap zone, error message, success animation, and the position of the tap zone indicator. Call this method during your initialization or reader connection process. You can invoke this function multiple times if you need to adjust the appearance of the Tap to Pay screen during the lifetime of your application. View an example of customizing the UX:

val config = TapToPayUxConfiguration.Builder()
    .tapZone(
        TapToPayUxConfiguration.TapZone.Manual.Builder()
            .indicator(TapToPayUxConfiguration.TapZoneIndicator.FRONT)
            .position(TapToPayUxConfiguration.TapZonePosition.Manual(0.3f, 0.7f))
            .build()
    )
    .colors(
        TapToPayUxConfiguration.ColorScheme.Builder()
            .primary(TapToPayUxConfiguration.Color.Value(0xFF008686))
            .success(TapToPayUxConfiguration.Color.Default)
            .error(TapToPayUxConfiguration.Color.Resource(android.R.color.holo_red_dark))
            .build()
    )
    .darkMode(
        TapToPayUxConfiguration.DarkMode.DARK
    )
    .build()

Terminal.getInstance().setTapToPayUxConfiguration(config)

Cardholder verification limits and fallback

Some contactless card transactions above certain amounts might require additional cardholder verification methods (CVM) such as PIN entry. Tap to Pay on Android doesn’t yet support PIN capture, so you might see elevated decline rates for transactions above the limit. NFC wallet payments (Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay) might not be subject to these same limits.

We recommend attempting the transaction anyway. When collecting payment with your mobile device, hold the card to the reader long enough to read the information from the chip. You might need to wait a few seconds after the initial vibrate when the card makes contact. In the event of a decline, use another method to collect payment, such as a Terminal card reader. You can only have one active connection to a reader at a time.

Best practices and promotion guidelines

Ensure an optimal user experience by considering the following:

• Connect to the reader in the background on app startup to reduce wait times when collecting a payment.
• Reconnect to the reader when the app comes to the foreground to reduce wait times.
• Provide merchant education to guide your users on how to accept contactless payments on a compatible Android device, including in-product promotion and text or email alerts.
• Launch and promote your Tap to Pay on Android marketing campaigns using our messaging templates and design assets. Become a Stripe Partner here to access these assets in the partner portal.