By using the right payment processing library right from your phone, your business can grow faster than ever. Developed as a response to the ever-increasing levels of e-commerce, payment processing is the practice of handling a transaction by a third party. Navigating credit cards, debit cards and invoices is thus made simpler.
If web payment processing is already familiar to the average user due to services such as PayPal, the mobile version is still in its early days.
However, as the mobile access market grows year after year, with phones quickly replacing PCs as the prime tool of using the web, making payments mobile has become an essential requirement.
With Apple’s iOS, payment method depends on what is sold. If the operation is done in-app, it must use Apple’s IAP, giving the company a percentage of the business. Physical products, however, must be sold through third party gateways.
A company using such a payment library is poised to not only take care of its expenses with ease but also to capture and swiftly service its own clients. For that purpose, here are 10 of the best libraries for payment processing on your Android app.
PayPal Mobile Payment Libraries (MPL)
The biggest player in the web market payments domain, PayPal was quick to produce a mobile version of its service. MPL is provided in native iOS and Android SDKs, being easily integrated into mobile apps. What it does is to add a Pay with PayPal button in your app’s payment flow. This will allow customers to pay with their existing PayPal accounts, granting them the safety of using a familiar service.
PayPal’s mobile payment processing service is built on the Adaptive Payments system, allowing you to create mobile apps that provide for pre-approved and chained payments, increasing your overall cash flow and the simplicity of the service.
Stripe
Stripe is one of the most popular methods of accepting payments in iPhone and iPad apps due to its customizable UI elements and forms. Having the built-in support of Apple Pay, Stripe makes it easy to integrate your SDK after obtaining an Apple Merchant ID. Flexible and reliable, the service also provides several guides to help you familiarize yourself with its uses.
PayAnywhere
As the name suggests, PayAnywhere is a mobile payment processing solution for iOS or Android smartphones and tablets. It is particularly useful for small merchants and NGOs as it allows you to accept payments while traveling or attending one-time events.
The Merchant portal allows you to get detailed accounts of activity and the trends in your outgoing inventory. Included in the offer is also a mobile card reader that can be attached to a supported iOS or Android device and coupled with a free PayAnywhere app. As such, it can readily process payments through a NetSpend account, be it with a prepaid debit or an active card.
Another bonus of using PayAnywhere is that it does not require a termed contract to open an account. Flexible and extremely useful, this service also provides live support by phone, email and chat to ensure the smooth usage of its features.
Cardinal Commerce
Used in 200 countries and available in 180 different currencies, the Cardinal Commerce iOS library provides safe transactions through mobile payment platforms and alternative options.
With a tokenization feature that randomly creates a one-time-use 16-digit code, this mobile payment processing service protects merchants like no other. The credit card number is also never stored in the merchant’s system, also protecting the privacy and security of the client’s account.
Datatrans
Mobile payments allow the customer to remain in the app, saving him the hassle of going through several pages of agreements and forms to fill. This one-click feature is entirely supported by Datatrans. At every stage of the process, the Retry and Roll-Back functions protect the user from incorrect entries or poor internet coverage.
The merchant, however, can create his own graphical user interface (GUI) through this service, allowing him the freedom to design his page, personalizing it in order to fit his business and image.
Omnipay
Launched in 2012, Ogone’s in-app library Omnipay does not store credit card details on the mobile device. Instead, it uses secure aliases for every client, thus bringing e-merchants to the industry-required level of security.
Braintree
Braintree’s main selling point is its fast payment operations. Accepting online and mobile payments for businesses in more than 130 currencies and 44 countries, the service provides advanced fraud and payment information protection. With SAQ A PCI compliance levels, high uptime and flexible APIs, Braintree also enjoys the backing and experience of a partner versed in online payments – PayPal.
Authorize
Boasting with a client base of more than 440,000 merchant customers and thousands of business partners, Authorize is another payment processing library to consider for your Android app. As security is one of the main concerns of users making online and mobile payments, Authorize stresses its status as a trusted payment gateway since 1996. With 24/7 support, the company is also the yearly recipient of Ace Awards in Customer Excellence since 2008 to 2016.
E-xact
E-exact is a cloud-based, EMV-Chip, all-in-one point-of-sale solution with multi-lane and multi-merchant functionality. With hosted payment pages and API payments features, E-xact keeps the client’s information out of the PCI scope, increasing security.
WorldPay
WorldPay is a powerful and useful tool for developers, in particular, offering XML API docs and guides for payment page designers, LATAM integration, direct or hosted methods, authentication, orders, notifications and Client Side Encryption and Tokenisation. Aware of the significance of mobile payments, WorldPlay is constantly in contact with industry leaders in order to provide the best and most secure service.
Together, these 10 libraries for payment processing are the best that this developing industry has to offer in terms of mobile payments. Fast, safe and reliable, regularly making payments online or through your smartphone might have been seen as outlandish just two decades ago. Now, paper money is facing its toughest competitor and would-be replacement in the form of these services.
Article Updates
- June 2017 – Fixed Minor mistakes and updated links.