The 5 Best Digital Wallet Apps For Android In 2023
Digital wallets are a modern marvel — you can hop on a plane without a paper ticket, pay at a grocery store without a physical wallet, and settle up with your friends without cash. They allow you to walk around with everything you need while only carrying your phone. As with any other popular amenity, though, there's more than just one service to choose from.
For many Android users, the default choice is Google Wallet, but there are a good number of other options out there with more features and competitive services. Storing ID cards, sending money worldwide, investing in stocks, filing taxes, earning rewards, setting aside money, digitally cashing checks, and buying crypto are some of the extra features provided by different services — and many are completely free to use. Each app offers a different selection of features, so it's just a matter of choosing the one that fits your needs best.
What is a digital wallet app?
Digital wallets are a kind of app that lets you make payments with your phone. The simplest digital wallets allow you to link debit and credit cards so you can make contactless payments with your phone in stores and let you save your information so you can check out quickly online. However, many apps have developed into much more comprehensive services that offer a range of money-sending, paying, managing, and saving features.
For example, some digital wallet services have their own balance and linked debit cards or bank accounts. You can use the app's balance to make payments or participate in additional features like buying stocks. Some apps also have money-saving features that allow you to separate your funds into sections to save for specific things like holidays. Others have quick and easy methods to send money to friends and family with just their phone number, email, or a QR code.
Another common feature is storing more than just debit cards. Some digital wallets let you carry almost anything you might have in a physical wallet — loyalty cards, gift cards, travel passes, plane tickets, event tickets, personal IDs, and more. Each app has a different selection of features, so it's worth checking them out so you can choose the one that suits you best.
Cash App
Cash App describes itself as a financial services platform. You can store and manage money, but it's not a bank. It does, however, work with banking partners, so it can offer customers a physical Visa Cash Card and let you set up a direct deposit for your paycheck. The core service is quick and easy money transfers between friends and family. You can send someone money using just their phone number, email, $cashtag, or a QR code. Whenever you send or receive money, your balance is updated instantly, so you're not left wondering if it went through.
Other features of Cash App include easy investing and gifting of stocks and managing Bitcoin. You can buy Bitcoin in the app, send it to others, and even get paid in it — or you can ignore it completely if you're not into crypto. You can set money aside with the Savings feature and earn rewards and discounts using the Cash Card. Another interesting service it provides is free state and federal tax filing services, which have been well-reviewed by sites like Vice and Forbes.
However, Cash App is not the kind of digital wallet that lets you add cards and pay with your phone through NFC — i.e., tapping your phone against the card reader. Instead, both in-person and online shops can choose to offer Cash App as a payment option through QR codes. It's still quick and easy when it's there, but it's far less likely to be offered.
Google Wallet
Google Wallet is a much simpler service than Cash App and focuses primarily on letting you store and use existing cards in digital form. Anyone can download the app, link a Google account, and add items. When you add debit cards, credit cards, or travel passes, you can simply use your phone for contactless NFC payments.
When you add loyalty cards, gift cards, plane tickets, or event tickets, staff can scan the barcodes or QR codes right from your phone. You can also store digital versions of personal IDs like your U.S. driver's license or a campus ID that you can scan to access school buildings. If you have a compatible vehicle, you can even store a digital car key with Google Wallet.
Online, you'll also find a wide variety of stores and apps offering Google Pay at checkout, which allows you to securely pay through the Google app without having to type in any of your shipping or payment information. You can also use the app in the U.S. to send money to family and friends as long as you have their name and email and they also have the app. When you make purchases, send money, or refer friends to Google Wallet, you can earn a variety of rewards like cashback offers and promo codes for specific stores.
PayPal
PayPal is best known as an app for easily sending money across countries or checking out online. However, it's been around so long that it has expanded to include just about every feature you can imagine. With the PayPal app, you can still send money to friends and family wherever they are and transfer money between your PayPal and linked bank accounts — but you can also invest in crypto or pay your bills. You can even cash a physical check by taking a picture of it.
The company has also expanded into credit services, offering customers the chance to buy now and pay later in four installments or pay over time within six, 12, or 24 months. They also offer PayPal Cashback Mastercard, PayPal Debit Card, and PayPal Prepaid Mastercard. Though PayPal isn't the kind of digital wallet that offers NFC payments, over a million small businesses and retailers offer PayPal QR payments in their stores. Simply scan the code and complete the payment in the app.
You can also earn interest on your savings through PayPal, and they currently offer an APY much higher than the national average — though it's worth mentioning that they could change this at any time. You can easily access your savings and even arrange them into specific goals and set up automatic deposits.
Venmo
Venmo is a digital wallet app with a bit of a twist that isn't for everyone. This app turns your spending habits into a social media feed, allowing you to share purchases or payments with friends or the public. Whenever you post something, you can add a note, emoji, or stickers to personalize the experience. The idea is that you can send thank you notes to friends when you pay them back, brag about a purchase you made, and find new places by seeing where your friends and family are shopping.
You can also add money to your Venmo balance and link debit cards, check out online with participating websites and apps, pay in person wherever there's a Venmo QR code, and get your paycheck paid straight into your Venmo account. And it offers a Mastercard debit card but can only be used in the U.S. and with U.S. merchants. In terms of crypto, you can buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or Bitcoin Cash — and share it on your feed, of course.
When you want to send money from your Venmo balance to a linked bank account, you can choose a free option that takes a few days or pay a small fee to get it instantly, which is a nice choice to have. Again, this isn't an app that offers NFC payments, but if you get a Venmo debit card, you can add that to your Google Wallet and use it for contactless payments on your phone.
Samsung Wallet
Samsung Wallet is mostly the same kind of service as Google Wallet but exclusively for Samsung device users. Formerly two apps called Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass, the service allows you to store student IDs, passwords, addresses, debit cards, bank accounts, boarding passes, and more all in one place. When you add payment methods to Samsung Pay, you can use your phone to pay in-store through either NFC or MST. NFC is the regular type of contactless payment, but MST interacts with the magnetic swipe feature of a card reader. It allows Samsung Pay users to complete a contactless payment on older terminals that haven't been upgraded with NFC readers yet.
Samsung Pay also has a transit card feature that lets you link your bank account and use your phone to tap on and off various forms of public transport. Though it's not an app that's designed for sending quick payments to friends, it does offer quick and low-fee money transfers and international wire transfers, so you can send your money where it needs to go without a trip to the bank. You can also create virtual cards to link your bank account and use as a prepaid card.
TL;DR
Here's a quick recap of what each app does and doesn't do.
Cash App: Good for sending money to friends, managing stocks, crypto, and money. Offers plenty of useful and convenient features. Doesn't offer NFC payments, so you can only pay in person at select stores.
Google Wallet: Good for adding payment methods and using NFC to pay with your phone in almost any store and checkout instantly with many online merchants. Also good for storing passes, tickets, and loyalty cards. Doesn't offer money management features, and sending money to friends is possible but not a core feature.
PayPal: Good for sending money worldwide without any hassle and checking out online with millions of merchants. Also good for anyone who wants credit features like Buy Now, Pay Later, or monthly payments. Doesn't offer NFC payments, so paying in person can only happen if a store has a PayPal QR code set up.
Venmo: Good for making your financial activity into a social media feed and making quick and easy payments to friends and family. Also good for crypto and okay as a debit card if you're only buying within the U.S. Doesn't offer NFC payments, so paying in-store is limited.
Samsung Wallet: Good for in-store payments because NFC and MST can deal with almost all types of card readers. Good for paying for public transport quickly and easily and storing various types of passes, tickets, IDs, and passwords. Limited money management features and no stocks or crypto.