ekasprzak this message! i actually have a phone, but i'm testing the apk on huawei watch 4 and the last version, runs but cannot activate curve pay on the watch, it just stuck in the loading screen of the activation. I don't know whether you have somewhere that apk file you mentioned you install back in March

    intelligence up until the May 2023 update of my banking app i could use the native NFC payment of the app itself (from within the app or by single clicking the widget icon on your home screen) flawlessly and worked seemlesly since it was first introduced 6-7 years ago. Since the May update I lost NFC capability of the app again within the app and there was no widget at all. I went on and read the apps update log and surely enough the change to google pay was introduced at that update that made the previous fully working capability of the app itself stopped working - inexisting. After weeks of emailing back and forth with the technical team of the bank their answer was: "we did cause of convenience and better support, plus we don't have to maintain another service by ourselves. We outsourced that to google!" Now at that point was furious and willing to change banks just to a bank that is not so gullible. But immediately found out that most all of the do the same or are planning to do so in the near future. So instead what I did was deleted the app, reinstalled the pro May update version and blacklisted any future updates to the app. I have it working again with no issues till now (almost 6mo). I just took all the necessary safety precautions (with 2sv and everything) so I can keep using that service.

      6 months later

      matchboxbananasynergy Definitely not Barclays as the stopped their native NFC support in the app and are now referring to Google pay. Clowns...

        3 months later

        Is there still nothing anyone uses for NFC payments?

        I just moved to a bank that doesn't have it's own NFC payment app / system in their banking app.

        Now I'm not looking to get a smart watch just for something like the Garmin payment app. So is there nothing at all where you can simply add your own card for NFC payments? Or any new way to get around Google Wallet's system check?

          RedPanda I'm not sure (because I am not using NFC ) but if you have google services somehow, maybe you can enable nfc on curve. someone said above that if you change region to Iceland, Curve lets you activate nfc. https://appgallery.cloud.huawei.com/appdl/C102372409
          There is also another app called "Lydia" (now Sumeria.eu). It has Nfc Function (at least for Huawei phones) but supports a limited number of countries.

          🇫🇷 Metropolitan France and DROM-COM (numbers starting with +33 +262, +596, +590 and +594)
          🇲🇨 Monaco (+377)
          🇧🇪 Belgium (+32)
          🇩🇪 Germany (+49)
          🇪🇸 Spain (+34)
          🇮🇪 Ireland (+353)
          🇬🇧 England (+44)
          🇵🇹 Portugal (+351)
          🇮🇹 Italy (+39) 🆕
          🇱🇺 Luxembourg (+352)

          https://appgallery.cloud.huawei.com/appdl/C102330391

          You might be able to use that. If there isn't any option to activate payment, maybe it needs google services. someone has said to me that it works as NFC payment app on GMS devices too.

          Those are the two that have mobile payment on their own (at least for Huawei phones)

          You could try them with and without google services (maybe with microg) and keep us posted!

            RedPanda So is there nothing at all where you can simply add your own card for NFC payments?

            It's not really a technical problem, more of a cost/risk/market problem. Google, like Apple, spent big bucks setting up a network and getting merchants to accept it. They want to limit their risk of that system being hijacked, so they feel it best to trust their OS and the systems of their contractual OEM partners.

            Others, such as Samsung and Huawei, have similar networks. Some banks may choose to build their own apps rather than signing up with one or more large networks, but then they assume the risks.

            Just because it's not technically hard doesn't mean it isn't real-world hard.

                de0u i agree, but that also banks pay fees to google to support google pay on their cards, isn't it? would be better if they had their own apps (some banks did, then shut them down because they got google pay support)

                • de0u replied to this.

                    mgeo Each bank decides how to balance costs, risks, and benefits, likewise Google. We might prefer if Google trusted their wallet app on GrapheneOS, but it may well never happen. We might prefer if our favorite banks did their own NFC payment support, but that is their choice.

                    With hardware attestation, there isn't a way for GrapheneOS to tweak something and override Google's choices or banks' choices (I think this is what the original poster was asking about).

                      Tried Curve. They require you to buy their own card and they seem to have removed their own NFC, now also relying on Google Pay, making it unusable on GrapheneOS.

                      Lydia / Sumeria was a bit too shady for me. They were seriously asking for my tax ID.

                      I guess I will have to drop NFC payments and pay with my card directly or with cash.

                        Something I don't see mentioned much, as a sort of alternative to paying by phone, is contactless payment wearables. I think the support varies depending on what country you're in. I believe there are a few compatible with the curve card and a couple of other cards in UK at least. Pretty sure it's a fairly popular method of payment in parts of Europe. I think it is only supported by MasterCard cards and not VISA.

                        There are bracelets, rings, watchstraps, watches (not smart watches, actual watches) and key fobs as well. I'm sure there are others.

                        It seems very dependable on what country you're in as to whether it is a thing and to what companies do it, so if it sounds interesting its worth a quick search on the web

                        EDIT: There are also phone cases like this one, that let you keep a couple of cards in and just slide the back open slightly to tap to pay: https://www.amazon.com/Spigen-Slim-Armor-Designed-MP671/dp/B0BZ5PBKXP/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3SBWYXWXFPSWK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.nLaU3CkPKer1vzkZxvhtMEq0vjhqw0_0Jq1_wRZe9IncogAhjHuC7pTPd0WEnrpdrzhFeYwpv7wNKyZoNgfZ-hzPKs6xdn2GQkX0nyDmK6ypTUbhGWfOa8wk6pxrfukALs2CJMEY95mZDVwv0bNdMMnvk6X-CQTDEKu6vFGtJWYbY94cuPYE8EoApzeMd6ajw7I9jLN4FaOC5L_A6XLOFw.4qYXoLd6oopY_o2OtY7YFeYfSOsl_C4CY7SA_F8KaIA&dib_tag=se&keywords=Spigen+Slim+Armor+CS+Case+Compatible+with+Google+Pixel+8+Pro&qid=1720008337&sprefix=spigen+slim+armor+cs+case+compatible+with+google+pixel+8+pro%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-1

                          roamer4223 That's true. There are NFC rings and watchstraps, for me it's only curve that is supported

                            RedPanda Yes, I think you have to order their own curve card in order to use NFC or any of their features. But still might not work on GrapheneOS. I'm not sure. There is this comment here and a full thread: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/443-gpay-alternatives-for-grapheneos
                            This comment here is what I am not sure: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/u/LazyM49

                            They use different phone than Huawei and somehow enabled NFC by changing region in Google playstore(?)

                            I don't think Lydia is shady. It's a digital licensed bank in France. Based on trustpilot, I'd say that they are okay. I sent them email before and they always reply and I also checked them with central bank in my country and they are approved by them as digital bank.

                            Don't revolut ask for Tax ID too? here it does

                              As far as I know KYC is mandatory for financial services in the EU; so asking for a tax ID is mandatory for Lydia/Sumeria, Revolut, as well as any other EU bank or financial app. They should also verify your ID via a videocall, or at least ask for a bank transfer from another of your accounts to confirm your identity (so switching the burden of KYC compliance to the other bank).

                                fph thats true! btw what bank let you do a transfer to confirm? i never seen one. they all want selfies and id copies

                                • fph replied to this.

                                    ekasprzak hey, what do you mean "And I just tried that on my aonther Android phone (Xperia with stock Android) - it just worked, no issues."

                                    what model it was and what stock android?

                                      mgeo what bank let you do a transfer to confirm?

                                      Many banks in Italy do, for instance ING.

                                      • mgeo replied to this.

                                          fph I see, I think I heard ING before to have an NFC payment app. do they still have it?

                                              mgeo I heard ING before to have an NFC payment app. do they still have it?

                                              Not that I know. Unfortunately all banks in Italy seem to be happy with relying on Google Pay; none that I know have their own NFC payment app. Or, at least, none that you can use at a standard POS terminal; some have their own proprietary ecosystems (which are not very widespread).

                                                9 days later

                                                mgeo No they don't. I literally just switched to ING and this is how I came to this topic. I also emailed their support and got the expected answer of "we don't have any additional payment solutions at the moment, but are always checking about introducing new payment methods". Although I was also told that if they introduce anything like their own NFC payment app, I'd be informed.

                                                    4 months later