You can also pay with your mobile when there is no internet connection

13/02/2025

We go with the mobile everywhere, as an extension of ourselves, and use it for a lot of activities; among them, for something as frequent on a day-to-day basis as making payments, even if you are in a remote country or on an airplane.

Have you ever wondered if you could make your payments with your mobile without having an internet connection? The answer is yes, and it's thanks to NFC (Near Field Communication) technology.

NFC allows data to be transmitted wirelessly between devices that are a few centimeters away. In the case of mobile payments, this technology is used to facilitate secure operations between a device and a terminal.

When we approach the mobile to the POS to pay, the phone temporarily stores the information of the operation, which allows the transfer of data necessary to complete it, even if we do not have an internet connection. Think that it's actually like when you bring your physical card to the terminal. Bringing the phone close to the terminal, it's like zooming in on the card.

Another different issue is the internet connection of the merchant who is going to make the transaction and who, in principle, will need to check the balance.

Mobile payments are convenient, fast and just as secure as paying with your physical card. Being able to make payments in situations where you do not have coverage, in rural areas or abroad without roaming, can get you out of a hurry. 

Also, even if you operate offline, once you connect to the internet, notifications and updates of your balance will be available.

“Disclaimer: Please note that this is a translation of the original in Spanish that has been obtained using eTranslation (the machine translation tool provided by the European Commission), with the intention of giving you a basic idea of the content in English until a human translation becomes available. The Banco de España accepts no liability whatsoever in connection with this translation.”