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Payment app without Google in Europe?
(slrpnk.net)
In Spain a lot of baanks offers paying apps, apart there are also a lot of free EU paying apps, eg.
You can find more in AlternativeTo, there you can filter also by the country of origen.
https://alternativeto.net/software/paypal/?license=free&origin=eu
Ty. Have you tested any of these? I've already read about taler but it was in alpha (or something like that)
I don't use any pay apps, less because I don't thist these, but I don't thrust the privacy of mobiles with banking data. Apart I don't need these, I have all shops, malls, banks and all what I need in a radio of less than 1 km arround my home. I always pay in the most private way, with cash. Anyway, If I need one day such app, probably I would use one of my bank, not a third party one.
This works for grocery shopping and so, but not so much for last-minute online transfers. You would need to physically move to your bank office every time you need to move money between bank accounts.
If I need one day such app, probably I would use one of my bank, not a third party one.
I think the issue is that many (most?) bank apps in the EU will simply refuse to work if your Android phone runs some custom firmware and/or lacks Google Play Services, as a "security measure". Until not so long ago, my bank's 2FA app crashed just because I was using a non-standard keyboard app.... (now it shows a big red warning, but at least it doesn't crash).
Was pleasantly surprised a few weeks back when Norway's biggest bank app released a hotfix because their recent release had issues with GrapheneOS.
As said, I've the Bank and ATM at 5 minutes from home. No need of any app.
I'm a Sumeria customer and they do not offer an alternative to Google Pay, in fact their cards can be used with it. You can send money to sellers and individuals (much like Wero) but I have yet to meet any seller that accepts Sumeria payments.
I use OpenBank and they also provide their own nfc payments app on Android. It’s not a great piece of software, but it works and it successfully replaces Google Wallet for at least this part ( it keeps unselecting your card after every update).
Any of them available to eu nationals living abroad like britain or n. ireland
AFAIK RaiPay is the only one in the Czech Republic, and it's available in some other countries Raiffeisenbank operates in. However, the main Austrian bank is one of the few institutions that haven't pulled out of Russia, so...
Curve funguje v česku taky. // Curve works in Czechia aswell
Don't know, don't care - I use cash... :-)
Which is useless for non-local stuff
Then use your plastic card instead of an app
Many people use to attach the card in the smartphone's back to mimic the built-in NFC, that's a good solution but sometimes you wanna check your credits and make some operations.
Which I do so rarely, that my simple Visa/Dankort easily handles that...
In the Netherlands, at least with ING, you can request standalone code reader and pay through any browser, like this:
Speaking as an ignorant American who still happily uses card, I have to ask:
PEOPLE PAY FOR SHIT VIA QRCODES??? O_O
Those aren't exactly qr codes, but rather a scan code, different thing.
Though yes, one could pay using qr here. But I never do it because anyone can make QR codes. With those scan codes you need more additional verification, it's safer.
Some enterprising individuals in the US figured out you could print out your Venmo QR and stick it to parking signs to get people to just send you money
Lol that sounds about right. As someone who works in retail (please kill me now), I can def tell you that people don't pay attention.
Honestly, it might be I'm wrong about this since I don't live in a big city so maybe it's different in like NYC or some shit, but I'm under the impression that QR Codes have kinda been dead in the US. At least I hardly ever see one in the wild anymore. Mainly I presume for that reason. It's a prime way for malware injection.
most places that use qr codes here have them on a display and change them every five seconds.
here
Where?
yurop
PEOPLE PAY FOR SHIT VIA QRCODES??? O_O
It's ubiquitous through much of SE Asia. Eg Thailand etc
That's something I did not know. Thanks for educating me!
Yes, this is correct.. not just Thailand, but also Malaysia (where I’m from), Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, and Cambodia..
Oh mate, you need to go to China and discover that shit! It was already everywhere back when I lived there in 2016 and I mean everywhere. Even the local dude selling flat bread for 50p accepted payment with his QR code. Amazing stuff, seriously.
I'm so sick and tired of being so far behind...
Ahh, no no. We can pay with card with no need for an app. This code reader thing can be used for 2FA when making an online payment or logging into the banking site, so one does not need to use a phone app.
Well that's interesting! :O
I’m from a Southeast Asian country known as Malaysia, and yes, not only it’s a norm to use QR for making payments at shops and transfer money online here (we have a unified QR system called DuitNow QR), but also when paying at some shops in neighbouring Thailand and Singapore.
Yep, in Belgium too. Can be directly at the cashier in a physical store, barber, etc or online e.g. food delivery. It's pretty efficient and AFAICT pretty low cost. Also does not have to rely on MasterCard or VISA.
thanks a lot, i am also an ing customer and not aware of that. do you mind explaining a little bit on how it works?
This scanner is for 2-factor authentication in the case that one does not want to use a phone app. When you try to log in, or pay online, the browser displays a unique QR code that the scanner is able to decode.
You would enter your pin into the scanner, scan the code, and the scanner displays a number. You then type that decoded number into a field under the QR code and your are let through.
It can be ordered for free here in the NL: https://www.ing.nl/particulier/digitaal-bankieren/mijn-ing/scanner
So, with this scanner as a 2FA method, the app is not needed. One can pay offline with a card, online with a scanner, and check account balances through any browser using the scanner to log in.
Thanks so much. This is really helpful :3
curve app works without passing safety net. Im not sure if it works without play services tho.
I am really pissed off because I use to be able to make payments with my phone using NFC just with the Deutsche Bank App, but they rolled out an update on 25th August and now it requires Google Pay and Google Wallet to function. Fuck that !
If you are in Spain you can use Bizum.
There aren't many available. It all depends in the bank implementing the whole stack instead of relying on the gwallet. I think there is a few German banks I don't recall the name and in Spain BBVA doing so.
As I don't live in either countries, I'm using Garmin Pay for the lesser evil.
I think there is a few German banks I don't recall the name [...]
Maybe N26? Also, do you know Wero? (I'm reading the alternativeto page linked by the other user here.)
None of them require Google Play Services if you use their iOS app.
Good joke
No joke. Google Play Services isn’t even available on iOS.
Now if you would kindly tell me how to get those apps installed on a privacy respecting OS
Just use the App Store. Very few OSes as privacy respecting as iOS, certainly not we-pretend-to-be-open-source Android.
I'm confused by the question. I use my French bank app without problem since day one on my Huawei.
You probably have a pseudo gplay version or microg
MicroG all the way, yeah. They had a version for the latest HarmonyOS on the week it was released in China.
Apkpure wasn't super clear on the dependencies so I was not sure, but I just looked on Aurora Store and they have a delightful system to rate app compatibility. https://plexus.techlore.tech/ Gives you no GMS rating and a separate MicroG rating.
this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2025
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