Tag: mobile wallet

Paytm app suddenly taken down from Apple App Store

The largest mobile wallet in India has been delisted for iPhone and iPad due to technical problems.

At a time when mobile payments have taken off explosively in India, the Paytm app has been delisted for iPhone and iPad users. The Apple App Store no longer offers the mobile wallet after Paytm found technical issues such as bugs. The company worked hard to produce an update to iron out the problems and was awaiting Apple’s approval at the time of the writing of this article.

The temporary removal of the mobile payments application occurred on the heels of a service outage.

The Paytm app had been experiencing issues. The entire service was behaving oddly last week and for a stretch before then. It suffered a serious outage and then triggered a range of issues for days following, even after the mobile wallet was taken down from the App Store. That said, many people were quite surprised when the application was entirely delisted.

Paytm App - Apple App StoreThe reason is that while all updates for iPhone and iPad apps require Apple’s approval, the older version of the application will typically remain available for download until the updates receive the nod. In this case, the updates were awaiting approval and the entire app was taken down.

The reason for the Paytm app removal was not because Apple decided to intervene and delist it.

Instead, it was the choice of Paytm to take its mobile wallet down. According to a spokesperson from the company, “We have currently removed the app from the App Store to stop adding incremental new users to our existing base.”

The company then expanded on the statement by making a blog post that read “Today we found a bug in our iOS App where certain app users were not able to pay thereby hanging their app. Soon the system logged them out preventing them from further accessing their account.”

Currently, Paytm has more than 170 million registered users. The version of the app that runs on Android and the web-based platform are working without any problems at all, says the company. It continues to be available to download at Google Play and for browser users.

This may be good news for Android device users as the Paytm app and other mobile wallets have become a necessity for millions of people for the last couple of months. Ever since India decided to take some of its larger currency notes out of circulation – which are now being replaced with new versions – there has been a shortage of cash and consumers have needed to look to other methods of paying for products and services.

NFC mobile payments enabled through smartphone case

The bPay compatible product has been designed to make this service available to a larger number of devices.

Case Station, a manufacturer of smartphone cases, has now created a product that enables NFC mobile payments. This product has integrated with the bPay contactless payments from Barclaycard. The goal is to make it possible for people whose smartphones are not equipped with near field communication to use the technology.

NFC mobile purchases can be done with a quick tap of a smartphone at contactless checkout terminals.

Though a large number of companies have offered NFC mobile payments transaction options, the number of smartphone users who have the technology for these services are in the minority. After all, without an NFC technology chip, the device simply isn’t compatible.

NFC Mobile Payments - Smartphone CaseA statement from Barclaycard explained that “All the Case Station cases have been created to discreetly hold a small bPay contactless chip, which will allow users to make touch and go payments for £30 and under (US$39.73) easily and quickly without fumbling for cash or entering a PIN wherever they see the contactless symbol.”

With the NFC mobile payments compatible case, even a phone without the tech can be made compatible.

The payment giant went on to say that the Android and iOS apps for the mobile payments service will not only allow transactions to be completed but also tracked. The bPay chip is connected to a mobile wallet which can be used by consumers with Visa or MasterCard debit or credit cards registered in the United Kingdom.

In this way, consumers can add funds to their mobile wallets by way of the app or online via the bPay website. They can also take advantage of an automatic top-up function which will add funds to the mobile wallet whenever that balance drops below a chosen level.

The Case Station product is technically a smartphone protector case. They are compatible with smartphone models from the LG, Samsung Galaxy and iPhone lines. They also contain the NFC mobile payments chip necessary to use near field communication transactions. They are being sold in a range of different color and pattern options to make them attractive as well as functional.