You could pay using your smartphone. Is the technology ready?

Can a phone replace your wallet? I know many people that would love the idea of using their smartphone or smartwatch to make purchases at stores, but reality is... mobile payment technology is still in its infancy and is not yet bulletproof and a lot of retailers are not yet ready to provide that service.

Mobile payments are clearly a step forwards and the most popular mobile payment providers on the market in 2015 have been Android Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay,

Mobile payment providers state that mobile payments are inherently more secure than using a plastic credit card. That's because most mobile payments are conducted on phones that have GPS, meaning the payment provider can determine who you are and whether the transaction is a legitimate one.  

 Providers are working on improving the technology.  

To complete a sales transaction, your phone will need to connect to the Internet, wait for the data to be encrypted and receive a response. Even under ideal conditions, this will be difficult to complete in the time required by card schemes. And without a signal, it would be impossible. The solution that is being proposed to combat this uses a concept called “tokenization.” Instead of having to connect to the Internet every time you spend, limited-use virtual cards would be stored on your phone.

Tokenization creates security problems of its own. Cybercriminals won’t have to steal your wallet, or even your phone, to take your cash. It is possible for criminals to clone the phone and request the card information, or even write malware to reside on the phone that will instantly send the virtual card to the thief.

Here are some precautions you can take:

- Have a PIN on your phone
- Use an app that issues an immediate electronic receipt. That way you can check the amount of money you spend right after each purchase.
- Try having at least a two-factor authentication, such as a password/PIN on the phone and another to access the payment application
- Report security and payment problems right away

Article: 3 Things You Really Should Know About Mobile Payments
http://time.com/money/3852295/mobile-payment-apple-pay/