With smartphone ownership and usage among Canadians increasing over the last couple of years, it’s not surprising that many have also started using Digital Wallets to pay for their transactions.

In fact, Payments Canada revealed in a 2022 report that two out of three Canadians who own a smartphone have made a mobile payment, with over one-third conducting the transaction at a physical store location.

And it’s not just in Canada – research firm Juniper Research projected that over 60% of the world’s population will be using Digital Wallets for payment transactions by 2026.

In this light, we look at what a Digital Wallet is and why it’s becoming such a popular way to pay for your purchases, whether you’re shopping in-store or online.

What is a Digital Wallet?

A Digital Wallet, also called a Mobile Wallet, is an app on a mobile device such as a smartphone or smartwatch that allows you to store payment information so you can make contactless payments using a corresponding payment service.

According to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), some of the payment information you can add to your Digital Wallet include credit card numbers, debit card numbers, prepaid card numbers and loyalty cards.

There are many Digital Wallet payment services, but Apple Pay^® using the Apple Wallet^® app[1], Google Pay™ using Google Wallet app[2] and Samsung Pay^®[3] are the most popular among Canadians.

All three Digital Wallets use a technology called near-field communication (or NFC) to allow you to make contactless payments on a terminal using your mobile device. All three also use a security method called tokenization to protect your payment information. According to Payments Canada, tokenization is “the use of a proxy string of numbers rather than the true account or card numbers to protect sensitive payment information against credential theft.”

If you’re interested in understanding how tokenization works for each Digital Wallet, you can head here for Apple Pay^®, here for Google Pay™ and here for Samsung Pay^®.

Since all you need to make payments using one of the three apps listed above is a compatible mobile device, using your credit card with a Digital Wallet can offer several benefits. Below, we list three good reasons to use a Digital Wallet. 

1. It’s a convenient way to pay, whether in-person or online.

With a Digital Wallet, you can keep all your payment cards in one app and pay for transactions with either a contactless tap of your mobile device on a payment terminal when shopping in person or by clicking on the option at checkout when you shop online.

2. Tokenization offers an added layer of security.

Whether you use Apple Wallet^®, Google Wallet™ or Samsung Pay^®, the tokenization process adds to your mobile device’s security features – which can include passwords, personal identification numbers (PIN), facial recognition and fingerprint readers – by converting your sensitive payment information into a string of values known as a “token.” This means sensitive payment information such as your credit card number is never stored on either your device or the cloud and is never shared with anyone at checkout.

“When you make a purchase, Apple Pay uses a unique transaction code, so your card number is never shared with a merchant or put on Apple servers,” Apple says on its website.

Similarly, Google says on its website that when you use the Google Wallet app to tap to pay, it “sends a virtual account number to the merchant instead of your actual card number – so your payment info stays secure.”

Lastly, Samsung shares that each transaction using Samsung Pay “uses a random token instead of the actual card number, which means no real information from the original card or account is shared by Samsung Pay.”

3. Better organization and more efficient expense tracking.

All three popular Digital Wallets allow you to easily review and track your past transactions and monitor your spending. You can also use all three Digital Wallets to organize and store other types of documents, including boarding passes, event tickets and membership cards.

How can I start using a Digital Wallet?

Digital Wallets can offer many benefits and can make payments more convenient. However, one thing to keep in mind is to use a card that is compatible with the Digital Wallet you have on your mobile device.

Fortunately, all Home Trust Visa credit cards are compatible with Apple Wallet^®, Google Wallet™ and Samsung Pay^®. What’s more, you still have access to all the great features and benefits of each Home Trust Visa credit card when you add them to your Digital Wallet. 

Learn how to add your Home Trust Visa to your Digital Wallet here.

The information, materials and opinions contained in this Blog are provided for our information only. This Blog does not constitute legal, financial or other professional advice and you should not rely on it as an alternative to specific advice based on your particular circumstance. This Blog contains links to third party websites. These links are provided for information and convenience; Home Trust does not endorse the content of any third party website, and it makes no representation or warranty as to the information on such third party sites. By clicking on any link to a third party site, you leave Home Trust’s website and do so at your own risk. Home Trust disclaims all liability for any damage or loss that results from your access to or reliance on information contained in this Blog or any third party site.

[1] Trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

[2] Google Pay is a registered trademark of Google Inc.

[3] Registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.