Google Pay
Ranked 4 of 17 mobile payment apps by recommenders
People recommend it for fast, convenient phone payments, including virtual card numbers and fingerprint authentication. Critics say it fails on some phones and locks out GrapheneOS and rooted devices.
People recommend it for fast, convenient phone payments, including virtual card numbers and fingerprint authentication. Critics say it fails on some phones and locks out GrapheneOS and rooted devices.
59 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 26
- criticize it
- 33
- approval share
- 44%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 26 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Replaces physical wallet and cards
“Google Pay and digital wallets have literally freed up one of my jean pockets permanently.”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Digital ID, a new way to create and present an ID in Apple Wallet” “I use Google Pay for basically everything. I'm not even taking my wallet with me”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Amazone One palm authentication discontinued” “GPay is a staple, I don't even have a plastic card”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux” Virtual card numbers
“Chrome's integration with Googgle Pay for example (which lets you generate virtual card numbers on the fly)”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “The new Firefox design is here” “One very nice use case of Google/Apple Pay is being able to pay with a virtual card in-person.”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “A big win for Android interoperability” “virtual number so my real card number won't leak in many cases”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon” Easy, works almost everywhere
“Google/Apple Pay works really, really well everywhere on the planet.”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Wero – Digital payment wallet, Made in Europe” “Spending money via Google Pay on Android is extremely easy”
Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “Gemini 3.7 Flash” “Google Pay and co work fine.”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Google confirms Android attacks; no fix for most Samsung users” Extra layer of protection
“more convenient and offer better protection than PayPal does”
Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “Stripe, Advent offer to buy PayPal for more than $53B” “Apple Pay and Google Pay add another layer of protection.”
Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in “Stripe said to abandon $50B pursuit of PayPal” “Google Pay has the same privacy advantages for end users.”
Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “Banks and Credit Unions to Team Up Against Apple Pay Fees”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Blocked on rooted or custom phones
“Unfortunately my bank also switched to Google Pay which does require Play Integrity, so contactless payments are out of the question on that phone now.”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Jolla on track to ship new phone with Sailfish OS, user-replaceable battery” “Google Pay bans using GrapheneOS so that's why tap-to-pay on GrapheneOS is only available in regions with alternatives to Google Pay.”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “Around a dozen banking apps began specifically permitting GrapheneOS” “Google Pay disables NFC payments as it requires hardware attestation against Google's root keys.”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “F-Droid: "Keep Android Open"” - Comment from 9 Jul 2026 in “Remote Attestation”
- Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple”
Adds reliance on Google and Apple
“EU should have forced Google and Apple to allow people to use NFC pay without having Google or Apple accounts”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “European digital ID wallets are a gift to Google and Apple” “Trading a dependency on MasterCard and Visa for one on Google and Apple is at best a sidegrade.”
Comment from 20 May 2026 in “Goodbye Visa and Mastercard: 130M Europeans switching to sovereign payment” “force google pay to make itself available on any platform that wants to integrate it”
Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “Breaking Up with Google Play: Why Conversations Is Now Free” - Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Capital One to buy fintech firm Brex in $5.15B deal”
Unreliable contactless use at times
“contactless payments work but not through Google Pay”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “I've been running GrapheneOS on my Pixel Fold for over half a year” “you can still use Google Pay most of the time. Except when you randomly can't!”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “Founder of 7/11 Japan, Toshifumi Suzuki, has died at age 93” Privacy and data concerns
“Apple Pay/Google Pay would only marginally improve the privacy in the Walmart scenario, which is a bummer.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Europe's $24T Breakup with Visa and Mastercard Has Begun” “They want our valuable transactional data, and location when those are made.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Europe's $24T Breakup with Visa and Mastercard Has Begun”
Other mobile payment apps people recommend
The four most recommended other mobile payment apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wero | 84 | 96 | 47% | 11 | — | — |
| Apple Pay | 73 | 48 | 60% | 12 | — | — |
| Apple Wallet | 58 | 63 | 48% | 10 | — | — |
| Google PayThis page | 26 | 33 | 44% | 11 | — | — |
| Google Wallet | 22 | 34 | 39% | 8 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 61 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Google Pay bans using GrapheneOS so that's why tap-to-pay on GrapheneOS is only available in regions with alternatives to Google Pay.”
“Google Pay is critical for me and it's unfortunate Google is gatekeeping that”
“Chrome's integration with Googgle Pay for example (which lets you generate virtual card numbers on the fly)”
“Google Pay has the same privacy advantages for end users.”
“force google pay to make itself available on any platform that wants to integrate it”
“paying with Google Pay is extremely easy and the default setting is monthly recurrence”
“Apple Pay and Google Pay add another layer of protection.”
“less convenient than Apple/Google Pay where that's supported”
“I can pay from my phone with a thumbprint verification only.”
“Apple, Visa, Mastercard and Google Pay aren't very "competent" either.”
“Spending money via Google Pay on Android is extremely easy”
“GPay is a staple, I don't even have a plastic card”
“whereas on my phone I have to unlock it for every transaction no matter how small”
“One very nice use case of Google/Apple Pay is being able to pay with a virtual card in-person.”
“proprietary Google shitware that Google cajoled Visa and MasterCard into accepting as a replacement for an actual card”
“Google Wallet is not available”
“more convenient and offer better protection than PayPal does”
“can even authenticate with my fingerprint, zero friction”
“I can't watch full-quality Netflix or use Google Pay on my rooted smartphone”
“the proliferation now of Apple/Google/Samsung Pay, Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, et al., will stave off any large-scale gouging”
“EU should have forced Google and Apple to allow people to use NFC pay without having Google or Apple accounts”
“virtual number so my real card number won't leak in many cases”
“I take a reliable CC and cash any fucking day over Apple and Google Pay”
“you can still use Google Pay most of the time. Except when you randomly can't!”
“already exists with Apple Pay and Google Pay”
“Dutch banks have recently discontinued their own contactless payment system and moved to Google Pay, which was a terrible decision.”
“Trading a dependency on MasterCard and Visa for one on Google and Apple is at best a sidegrade.”
“Pix integration with Google Pay it's just amazing.”
“Google Pay NFC dependency to start the app, two common failure modes.”
“Unfortunately my bank also switched to Google Pay which does require Play Integrity, so contactless payments are out of the question on that phone now.”
“contactless payments work but not through Google Pay”
“Google Pay disables NFC payments as it requires hardware attestation against Google's root keys.”
“Google Pay needs privileged hardware access that sandboxed apps cannot get”
“Google/Apple Pay works really, really well everywhere on the planet.”
“Apple Pay/Google Pay would only marginally improve the privacy in the Walmart scenario, which is a bummer.”
“They want our valuable transactional data, and location when those are made.”
“I use Google Pay for basically everything. I'm not even taking my wallet with me”
“So add another layer of duopoly and middlemen to the way I pay for things.”
“Google Pay and co work fine.”
“Google Pay and digital wallets have literally freed up one of my jean pockets permanently.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.