Visa Ready

Tap to Phone

Enable off-the-shelf mobile devices to accept contactless payments without additional hardware.

Visa's Acceptance Tap to Phone Solution
Visa Ready Tap to Phone graphic

Partnership opportunities

Tap to Phone makes it easier for sellers to use their smartphones to accept payments. As part of this initiative, Visa is helping drive these innovations through the Tap to Phone program which enables sellers to turn their NFC-enabled mobile devices into contactless POS terminals with no additional hardware required.

Leverage Visa's Acceptance Tap to Phone Solution

Leveraging Visa's Acceptance Tap to Phone solution might be for you if you: 

  • Want a precertified, pre-integrated Tap to Phone solution that allows you to easily integrate payments into your mobile app or point-of-sale app
  • Want a ready-to-use Tap to Phone SDK that is developer-friendly
  • Want multi-network support
  • Want global connectivity via Visa Platform Connect 
Let's Go
Work with a Tap to Phone Partner

Working with a Tap to Phone partner might be for you if you: 

  • Are a small merchant or startup who wants to enable payments via a mobile device but can’t develop solutions on your own 
  • Want a ready-made solution you can add to your consumer-facing experience
  • Want help from solution providers who have certified solutions ready to launch
Find a partner
Become a Tap to Phone Partner

 

Visa’s Tap to Phone program might be for you if you:

  • Are a financial institution, payment facilitator or developer
  • Have a solution that can accept and process contactless Visa payments in a mobile device
  • Want Visa Ready’s certification
  • Need access to standards and specifications for certification
Become a partner

Program benefits

The Tap to Phone program allows partners to:

  • Access Visa’s functional and security requirements for Tap to Phone 
  • Certify a Tap to Phone payment application
  • Launch the solution and receive guidance for scaling
  • Partner with solution providers with already approved solutions around the world
Acquirers

By leveraging Visa’s resources, acquirers can decide to build and certify a Tap to Phone solution by themselves or partner with an already approved third-party provider making it easier than ever to empower millions of additional sellers.

Visa’s requirements and guidance aim to introduce this new technology to the ecosystem and help it grow while maintaining focus on the security and usability of the solutions.

Sellers

Sellers are able to turn their mobile devices into contactless POS terminals to begin accepting card payments by simply downloading an application. Accordingly, sellers can reduce the use of cash, allowing for easier accounting, increased access to customers (consumers today are carrying less cash), and increased ticket sizes as a result of a more convenient customer experience. Additionally, Tap to Phone payments are reliable and secure, so sellers can be confident in knowing that their solutions face little to no risk.

All in all, the Tap to Phone program relieves the traditional pain points involved in accepting card payments such as the need to purchase and install costly physical POS terminals or waiting to get on-boarded onto a payment system as well as finding an acquiring bank. 

Cardholders

Fewer consumers today are carrying cash. Cash is more vulnerable to loss, theft, and it is more difficult for referencing past transactions than card payments. Additionally, unlike most cards, cash lacks the commonly available rewards programs that many cards have. Accordingly, Tap to Phone solutions can provide consumers with increased abilities to pay small merchants by expanding acceptance among small sellers so that goods and services can be paid for in a quick, convenient, and secure manner.

Solution Providers

Solution providers benefit from Visa’s Tap to Phone program by having the ability to access Visa’s requirements and specifications to build an approved Tap to Phone solution. Visa will also guide solution providers through the solution certification process. Once approved, solution providers will be able to partner with Visa clients to go to market and make their solutions available to sellers across the globe.

Certification process

Create a Visa Partner account

This gives you access to all programs on Visa Partner, including Visa Ready.

Fill out our application

We will review your application and compare it with our criteria.

Get access to important specifications

Access to specialized solution documents and technical specifications.

Build your solution

Functionality based on Visa’s Tap to Phone solution requirements with optional PIN capture.

Testing for launch

Engage with Visa Approval Services and perform required testing.

Receive program approval decision

Learn detailed next steps and sign our program agreement.

Certify your solution

Share your solution details that will appear on our partner directory.

Get listed in our partner directory

Help future customers find your company and solution based on their needs.

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