Mobile payment apps for specific stores have become increasingly common. Think of the popular Starbucks app, or even the Dunkin\u2019 Donuts app, where you can pay for your items through the app. For many smartphone users, this is a faster and more convenient way to pay. Mobile payment now represents more than 20% of Starbucks\u2019 transactions, for example, and could represent more than 50% of transactions in the near future. You can see why: the Starbucks app allows you to see your card\u2019s balance before and after a transaction, view available rewards, and view the status until your next reward, among other features. But just because a mobile payment app is convenient to use, doesn\u2019t mean you should use it. Like with any payment method, there are still risks involved. Only this time the risks also include potential access to your smartphone data.<\/p>\n
As store payment apps increase in popularity, they become a greater target for hacking opportunities. If you have your PayPal, debit card, or credit card linked to your account, a hacker could break into your account and gain access to your finances. At least, this is what happened with Starbucks app users not that long ago. In that case, hackers gained access to users\u2019 accounts to reload a large number of online gift cards through a user\u2019s payment options. Or, there\u2019s the more old-fashioned way, where a lost or stolen phone can give a thief easy access to all of your payment information.<\/p>\n
Read More: How to Shop Securely and Safely On The Web<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n As with all of your other online accounts, make sure that you\u2019re practicing strong password-making habits, in addition to activating two-factor authentication. Also, it is safer to connect a credit card \u2014 as opposed to a bank account, debit card, or PayPal account \u2014 to your mobile store app, if you must connect a payment method to your account. If you can\u2019t connect a credit card to your account, try adding cash to your account in the store.<\/p>\n As a rule, you should always be cautious of which apps you download from the Play store. Many malicious apps are designed to mimic current popular apps. These malicious apps can be downloaded thousands of times before Google is able to remove them. However, there are a few ways you can protect yourself. First, be wary of downloading any app that seems suspicious-looking in design or requests unusual permissions from your phone. Next, download PSafe Total<\/a> for your Android to protect your device against security threats 24\/7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Learn how secure mobile store apps, like the Starbucks app, are when it comes to paying for your order through the app. It might not be as safe as you think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[303,9,2401,3689],"class_list":["post-5711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","tag-app3","tag-mobile","tag-starbucks-app","tag-store-apps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Safe Practices for Store Payment Apps<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Protect Your Device with PSafe<\/strong><\/h3>\n