I think it's an age thing. Most of us that were around prior to the iPhone still whip out plastic to pay for things as it's been formed habit for so long.
I’m 58 and use my Apple Watch for pretty much everything. I only carry a single card for those rare times where I enter an establishment that does not have a chip reader.
I love it not only for convenience, but for the security as well. I don’t have to worry about a potential pickpocket seeing where I keep my wallet or how much cash is on me. I keep my transit pass on my watch for the same reason.
For me it comes down to security and convenience. My phone is secure, if it's stolen or lost, my payment methods are safe. If my wallet or credit card is lost, I'm canceling cards, watching my credit report, etc. I'm an old guy btw from long before the iPhone =)
Also an old guy, but I use my phone less and less to pay for things. In the major U.S. city where I live, it's not that common. And even after ten years, paying with my Apple Watch still gets stares and remarks. But that could be just that I don't frequent the sort of places that are popular on social media.
If my wallet or credit card is lost, I'm canceling cards, watching my credit report, etc.
If my wallet or credit card are stolen, I go on the bank's web site and mark them as such, and the transactions are automatically blocked by the bank and a replacement card is FedExed to me the next day. Credit report? I'm not sure how that relates to losing a wallet. I don't keep my mortgage details in my pocket.
If my phone gets lost? I don't care that much. But based on what I read on HN, people will be locked out of their bank accounts, their cars, their homes, and everything else in their lives. They won't even be able to call a loved one for help because they don't know anyone's phone number.
People on HN rail against single points of failure. Putting your entire life and trust into a piece of glass is the definition of single point of failure.
If my card is lost, I notify the bank and all transactions are cancelled, involved the ones before the notice.
I may need to pay 150 or 250€ (cannot remember) max, and that's the limit of my liability. I would like to see the bank that will try to make me pay that, it happens once and they backtracked immediately when I told them I am closing my account then.
We do not have the US credit thing, so no repairs to watch.
This said, I am 100% with you on the security of phones vs cards.
I was about 30 when Apple Pay/Google Pay showed up; I use it fairly exclusively now. If nothing else it is much _faster_.
(Before that I was mostly using card-based tap-to-pay, but that has the disadvantage that there's a limit both on transaction size and on transactions since last validation, after which it requires pin validation. The phone-based solution don't have this; being able to unlock the phone satisfies the PSD2 requirements.)
Yeah, I'm amazed at how convenient tap to pay is now. It is almost always significantly faster than chip readers.
Strangely, it hasn't always been the case. Early on, I really wondered if the tech would catch on, as I had a lot of issues. Lots of places didn't support tap, or had the hardware but had it disabled. For some reason, it wasn't fast at all, often taking as long as a regular card too! And worse, a tap failure seemed to require the person at the register to have to cancel the transaction on their end to allow a retry. They weren't used to tap-to-pay and would often act annoyed.
Somewhere along the way, this all changed. Taps are near instant, they rarely fail, and they usually reset pretty quickly when they do! I'd guess a lot of people who are hesitant were bitten by some of the early problems and don't realize how much smoother it all is now.
It used to be. But in a lot of the places I shop, it's not anymore. Especially the supermarket. And Target!
Enter your store rewards card number. Skip.
Do you want to pay with your store card? No.
Do you want to donate to our charity of the month? No.
Do you want to round up your total to save the dying baby whales? No.
Tap, insert or swipe. Wave the phone around the payment pad to find the invisible, not marked sweet spot so it bleeps.
Oh, it's a debit card! Enter your PIN. Push. Push. Push. Push.
Do you want cash back? No.
Confirm the total. Push.
Do you want your receipt printed, e-mailed, or not at all? Not at all.
Transaction complete.
Versus cash:
Your total is $28.52. Hand over $40.00.
Teller puts the bills in the slot, and the machine tells her how many bills of which denominations to give me, while my coins slide down the little chute into the change tray.
I love it not only for convenience, but for the security as well. I don’t have to worry about a potential pickpocket seeing where I keep my wallet or how much cash is on me. I keep my transit pass on my watch for the same reason.