For @GrapheneOS users missing Google Pay, it would now appear that @imaginecurve are now running Curve Pay in parallel, even in GPay enabled regions where previously unavailable. Tap to Pay is here.
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF CURVE; I HAVE NOT AND DO NOT INTEND TO TEST THEIR SERVICE NOR HAVE I CONSULTED THEIR PRIVACY POLICY IN DETAIL
Fascinating. I feel envious of folks living in the UK and Europe
I have never used tap to pay is there any security or privacy benefits over a normal card?
I’m not sure honestly.
Some sketchy places might place physical credit card skimmers but I’m not sure how tap-to-pay disrupts that threat model.
Regardless, there isn’t really a tangible security benefit besides having an additional third party preventing unauthorized payments. In this case, it would be Curve and Paypal.
I’m a grapheneos user and this is one feature I missed from stock OS. Anyone have experience using this service? Is it reliable?
My bank used to have their own payment solution like many in Europe actually had (before GPay was even a thing) until they switched to sharing your data with google and abandoning they own solutions.
I have never heard of this curve but is this a bank, psp, or just an app?
It’s good to see an alternative to Google Pay on GrapheneOS. However, to be honest, Curve falls short of being a truly privacy-friendly service. It may be suitable for those who want to completely de-Google their phones, but I’m not entirely convinced that Curve offers better privacy than Google Pay overall.
According to their privacy policy you can opt out of sharing of your data to advertising platforms. I’m not sure if they follow through with that or not or even honour your request so 
but it should help quite a bit
I think that for some people where lacking Google Pay is a deal breaker, the privacy trade-off in this case may be worth it in order to get the privacy and security benefits of GrapheneOS. That is a very personal choice however and not one I will be making.
You can opt out of that bs at least.
I’m on the verge of using it but I’m not sure as I don’t want to sacrifice my privacy this much. As they will have all my transactions.
yeah i really miss having mobile payments actually it has really made me think of switching to ios a few times. It is very welcome to see competition here.
There are also some privacy and security benefits in terms of what the stores see since they don’t receive your actual static card number. Or at least thats how Google and Apple pay work, I’m not sure whether these other companies do this the same way.
they probably upload the hash of your email address to facebook for targeting, at least that’s common when i read these. Best defence against that is generally to use aliases.
I’m absolutely with you on this one. Mobile payments are so convenient. I will keep a close eye on curve pay and see how it develops
They also ask for your phone number on download so you would also need a voip service to avoid the targeting.
perhaps yeah. That’s such a pain. I am still hoping for a more easy way to have aliases numbers reliably.
Tbh you’re entering you card details so isn’t your anonymity already out of the table? Entering an email alias wouldn’t help in this case
I have only had bad experiences with Curve and cannot recommend it at all.
While using Curve, I was bombarded with advertisements and cashback deals. When I tried to cancel my subscription and delete my account, my request remained unanswered. Letters to their official Lithuanian address (listed in their privacy policy) remained undeliverable. After involving the Lithuanian data protection authority and hiring a lawyer, it took almost two years to finally exceed my rights under Art. 17 of the GDPR and have my account and data removed.
Maybe that is just my personal experience. Maybe Curve has changed. I don’t know. Personally, I will not trust them anymore.
