Hi all,

So I read in another thread that Google hasn't approved of GOS in regards to Google Pay NFC support. Fine, I'm not fond of Google services to begin with.

Does there exist another wallet app similar to Google Pay that I can load Virtual Visa cards into, and have contactless NFC payments? Anyone with experience using said app?

2 months later

this is what I'm wondering why on earth no one has made an open source wallet app that does visa payments etc?

  • reto replied to this.

    It actually does have this capability. However, your BANK is not making use of it. The bank software has to register itself with Android as a "contactless payment application", then you can make NFC payments.

    See system-settings --> connected-devices --> connection-preferences --> NFC --> Contactless payments.

    matchboxbananasynergy
    I tried Curve from Huawei's App Gallery but I can't enable "Curve Pay" function (something that doesn't exist in Play Store variant at all).
    When I try to enable it it just goes to blank/dark page and nothing happens (like it's waiting for sth that never happens).
    Tried it dozen of times during 2 weeks, once I left it for 30m and nothing.

    Is there anyone here that is actually able to enable and use Curve Pay on GOS?

      ekasprzak I've heard reports of it working in the past, but it's entirely possible that they may have changed something that makes it not work. I don't use it myself, so I can't give you a conclusive answer, I'm afraid.

      ekasprzak when mentioned in the past it was stated that you [may] need to install HMS Core alongside it.

        MetropleX Yes, Curve requires installing HMS Core when you open the app, so I installed it right away (and did all the mentioned multiple tests, phone reboots just in case etc after installing it).

        I searched the forum and saw people mentioning that it (Curve Pay) might work, but didn't find any post when someone said that was able to enable and actually use it.

        • mgeo replied to this.

          Just be fully certain - I created an account with Huawei, signed into HMS Core/App Gallery, accepted everything they wanted (to be sure that it's not some permission that makes Curve Pay to fail), restarted the phone and still no luck, nothing changed.

          So it seems like currently there is literally no wallet kind of app that works on GOS (I don't mean specific banks - I mean wallet, where you can add any Visa/MasterCard you want and use it directly via NFC payment).

            ekasprzak so under the account tab does Curve Pay or Google not show up at all underneath the card image?

              MetropleX It does, I explained it above, to be more precise - when I click "Enable Curve Pay", it just shows a blank page with a small circle that just goes round and round endlessly like it's waiting for something that never happens (same if I do that from Settings --> Curve Pay").
              Tried that many times during various days and hours (so I don't think its some kind of temporary service unavailability), leaving the screen active for 10+ minutes.

              I also contacted curve support (which btw has worsened in recent months a lot - after first reply in 24h, every next reply for any question is 7+ days(!), at least in my last 2 cases) and so far, they have no idea what could be the problem.

              And I just tried that on my aonther Android phone (Xperia with stock Android) - it just worked, no issues.

              I think there is some kind of security check from Curve/HMS when attempting to enable Curve Pay and with GOS it just encounters something unexpected so it endlessly tries and retries without any timeout or error message.

              • mgeo replied to this.
                2 months later

                keatonhj it would be nice to have a generic open source app that's able to store any card. But the fact that not all cards work with Google pay and Samsung pay indicates the card issuer needs to enable this.

                  reto The sickening part is that all the pieces are already in place. Your credit card company can write a program to install on your phone able to make NFC payments, and WITHOUT going through {whatever}pay service. There is NO NEED for any wacky kind of "wallet" software. All that "wallet" software does, is manage cards that are activated through {whatever}pay.

                    10 days later

                    Hi Guys,

                    After almost 3 months I finally received a very specified answer from Curve:

                    It is not possible to use Curve Pay on Google Pixel phones, even if the app have been downloaded from the Huawei App Gallery rather than the Google Play Store.

                    Why it took 3 months and why "it is not possible? That Curve didnt answer and I dont have a patience to wait next 3 months to get some answers, but at least we have a definitive, official reply.

                    But, things took an unexpected turn - I think the same day I got the answer, there was a GOS update available and Google Pay itself.
                    And right now, using GOS 20230315 on my Pixel 6a and most recent Google Pay available in Google Play - I was able to add a card to Google Pay and tested it yesterday - it works, I can pay via NFC using GPay on GOS!

                    Please, check if I'm just weirdly lucky or some things regarding those certification from google etc have actually changed and maybe it also works on your Pixels now?

                      ekasprzak I've seen other reports recently of it working. i don't want to get your hopes up, however, as this has been the case before and it's been reverted. This is highly unlikely to last long.

                      8 days later

                      goslife It likely isn't. there was a small window of time in which Google changed something that made this possible, but as far as I know that has been reverted.

                      Edit: typo

                        goslife
                        Seems like what @matchboxbananasynergy says is true.

                        In my case I THINK it stopped working after one of the March GOS upgrades, but because of what matchboxbananasynergy wrote above I'm almost sure it was either a coincidence or maybe I just noticed that after upgrade (and it maybe it did not actually work before that, which I didn't check before).

                        So yeah, I'm back to taking again my wallet always with me, it's also sad that Curve (which could fill that gap perfectly and they definitely have working technology for that already) focused on Huawei alternative only.