Making Payments in Mexico Using Your Smartphone

As we describe in our guide to using your debit and credit cards in Mexico, bank payment cards are a convenient way to pay for purchases and withdraw cash from ATMs here—whether your card is issued by a bank in Mexico, or by a bank in your home country abroad.

Signing for card purchases began to get replaced by ‘Chip & PIN’ cards in the early 2000s, but it was not until around 2015 that this technology —entering a PIN number instead of signing a slip of paper— became more commonplace in Mexico.

Contactless payment systems

Around about the same time that ‘Chip & PIN’ became commonplace in the Mexico and US, debit and credit cards also began to feature a ‘contactless chip’ inside them, enabling cardholders to make smaller payments (usually less than US$50 worth) without the need to insert the card into a machine and enter the PIN number.

In 2014, Apple launched its Apple Pay service, and Google followed suit a year later with Android Pay.  These smartphone-based payment systems allow users to add one or more of their existing bank card details to an ‘electronic wallet’ on the device and use their smartphone to make and authorize contactless payments—without the small purchase restrictions imposed by the contactless payment system on a physical card.

The adoption of the two principal smartphone-based contactless payment systems has been gradual as the technology depends on users having newer phones that can make electronic payments and stores adopting new terminals that can interface with the smartphones.

Apple Pay and Android Pay in Mexico

The COVID Pandemic that began in 2020 caused banks to accelerate the roll-out of contactless payment systems. From around 2022, new terminals that could take payment from physical bank cards with a ‘contactless payment’ chip inside them (for small purchases only), and also capable of accepting payment from smartphones using the Apple Pay and Android Pay, started appearing across stores and restaurants in Mexico.

Payments using Apple Pay and Android Pay are as or more secure than using a physical card—people are far less likely to misplace their smartphone, and the card details are never revealed to the merchant so cannot be stolen or ‘skimmed’ as may happen when you use a physical bank card.  The signal between the smartphone and the payment terminal is secure and you must use your fingerprint or face ID via the smartphone to authorize the payment.

Payments you make are transacted through existing bank card(s) you have that get added to your smartphone’s “wallet.”  Apple and Google do not replace your bank or credit card company; instead their devices act at a payment gateway.

Payment at stores in Mexico using your smartphone

Lots of stores, supermarkets, and restaurants across Mexico have already upgraded their payment terminals and now actively accept payment via your smartphone set up with Apple Pay or Android Pay (Google Pay).  Even some bus companies now accept payment for tickets this way when you buy at the bus terminal.

However, not all commercial establishments (Walmart is a notable exception, at time of writing) have the latest terminals installed and these places only accept electronic payments with the use of a physical debit or credit card.

We therefore recommend that you do not rely entirely on your smartphone for making payments at stores and restaurants in Mexico and carry at least one physical payment card with you in case the establishment you want to pay at isn’t accepting payments via smartphone, and this in addition to some cash, which is still used widely.

Getting cash from ATMs using your smartphone

The next logical step is for smartphones to be used to withdraw cash from ATMs instead of using a physical card.  This is already possible today in some countries, but Mexico’s banks have not launched this service at their ATMs yet.  If you intend to withdraw cash from an ATM in Mexico, you must still use your physical debit or credit card to do that.

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The information published in this article is provided for general information in good faith and is not intended as personal, legal, financial or investment advice.