this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2026
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Over the last three years I've had a lot of folks ask me questions about using GrapheneOS. Let's answer them!

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[–] davidgro@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Tap to pay works perfectly fine on my plastic cards that don't run out of battery or need to be unlocked before I tap them. I genuinely don't see what the big deal is about having it work on a phone.

[–] zikzak025@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It is admittedly more secure.

A stolen card can be used for tap to pay, with not all transactions requiring a PIN with a card. A stolen phone cannot if they don't have your phone's PIN or biometrics.

And most phone tap-to-pay apps will also randomize your card data in the transaction to prevent your information from being tracked or compromised in the event of a large-scale data breach, like what happened with Target in 2013 and hundreds of retailers since.

[–] 0xd34d@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If a phone is lost or stolen, at least that security of unlocking to tap-to-oay will prevent purchases from being made. A plastic card, not so much.

[–] skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 day ago

The plastic card can be shut off by the bank web site/phone call/app. Banks also have fraud protection, a quick call will shut off the card and undo any fraudulent transactions. The fear is not realistic. Also why it is good to use a credit card and not carry a bank card. A fiscal firewall.

[–] Muffi@programming.dev 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Exactly. A physical card is simply better in every single way. Imagine the stress when your phone inevitably dies, if you are out traveling and suddenly you have no access to money or communication. Screw that.

[–] VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I use Graphene. There is some banks that do tap-to-pay independent of Google Pay, but not mine. There is one legit good thing about modern tap-to-pay - it cycles card numbers, making it harder for retailers to track you.

[–] skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And using tap or chip on a regular credit card does as well. Every tap rotates through a set of keys in the card. The periodic use of the chip refreshes the tap keys. It isn't the first gen tap to pay on credit cards anymore, it is much more robust.

But beyond that, the retailer already saw your face when you walked in, already saw it at the point of sale, already tracked you as you traveled the store via WiFi, already saw the BT/WiFi profile of your rotating MAC address device as it only obfuscates, and in some cases, already had your phone join their WiFi network via EAP-SIM through your carrier, already scanned your license plate with Flock in the parking lot, and already saw your club/discount/points card number at the point of sale, so they already associated you with yourself.

Tap-to-pay also sets up so all your transactions, on-phone or not, are captured by the handset manufacturer for further resale of metadata.

Some of those might be less prevalent depending on where you are. But yes, there's a lot of things to keep in mind.

Also, the plastic card thing is neat, I did not know that.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

I didn't know that. That's a handy feature.

[–] TheYang@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I personally agree, but (some) people stop carrying their wallets, when they can pay with their phones.

[–] Monkyhands@feddit.dk 1 points 4 hours ago

I do not always carry my wallet, but i have a credit card in a compartment in the back of my phone case. Works just as well as google pay for me.

[–] Brewchin@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

For me it's that 75%+ of my contactless payments trigger an "insert card and enter PIN" check, which defeats its purpose. Presumably because my bank has become super cautious or their fraud detection is managed by a clanker.

I never have a problem with the same transactions using my phone.

Honestly, I'd prefer to use my card, rather than gift transaction data to my phone manufacturer.

[–] skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There was a recent change in the last month or three that any tap transaction over $100 has to be chip or swipe. Likely what you are seeing. Which again goes back to how pointless phone tapping is when the ability to buy goods and services is already rife with hoop-jumping.

[–] Brewchin@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago

Not in my case. Been happening for a year or more, and for as little as £3 (bus ride, etc).

[–] Retail4068@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago