Payment methods
Google Pay
Google Pay lets customers pay with one tap on their Android phone or in their browser, confirmed with a fingerprint, face or screen lock - no card number typed, no form filled in. In South Africa that reach is decisive: Android is the country's dominant mobile operating system. Google Pay is live on LekkaPay as part of the standard integration.
LAST UPDATED ·
- of South African smartphones run Android, making it the country's dominant mobile operating system
- ~80%
- Mobile operating system market-share reporting, 2025
How it works
How does Google Pay work with LekkaPay?
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Customer taps the Google Pay button at checkout
No card form, no typing - the saved cards in their Google account are ready to use.
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They confirm with a fingerprint, face or screen lock
The payment is approved on their own device with the biometric they use all day.
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A device token stands in for the card
Google Pay sends a device-specific token (a DPAN) - the real card number never leaves the wallet.
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LekkaPay authorises and confirms in real time
You get an immediate result, exactly as with any other card payment.
Why Google Pay matters in South Africa
Android is the dominant mobile operating system in South Africa - market-share reporting puts it at roughly four in five smartphones - and the typical device is a mid-range Android, not a flagship. That is exactly the profile Google Pay serves: any Android phone with a screen lock can pay with one tap, no premium hardware required. If your checkout traffic is South African and mobile - and for most merchants it overwhelmingly is - Google Pay meets the majority of your customers on the device already in their hand, using an account most of them already have.
How does Google Pay keep card details safe?
When a customer adds a card to Google Pay, the real card number is replaced by a device-specific token, sometimes called a DPAN - a device primary account number. That token, not the actual card number, is what travels through the payment, and it is bound to that customer's device and released only when they confirm with a fingerprint, face or screen lock. You as the merchant never see or store the real card number, so there is nothing card-shaped in your systems to steal. Layer 3-D Secure 2 on top where an issuer requires it, and a Google Pay payment is protected four ways: tokenised card, device binding, biometric confirmation and issuer authentication.
What does Google Pay do for conversion?
Mobile checkout dies by a thousand keystrokes: sixteen card digits, an expiry date, a CVV, all on a phone keyboard, often on metered mobile data. Google Pay collapses all of it into one tap and a biometric confirmation. Fewer fields mean fewer abandoned baskets, and strong on-device authentication means the payments that do go through are cleanly verified. Because it switches on within your existing LekkaPay configuration, Google Pay is one of the fastest conversion improvements available to a merchant with an Android-heavy audience - which in South Africa is nearly every merchant.
Where Google Pay fits in your payment mix
Google Pay is the Android half of a complete wallet strategy. Pair it with Apple Pay for iPhone customers and Samsung Pay for Samsung loyalists, and every major device gets a native one-tap way to pay, while classic card entry remains for everyone else. All of it runs through the same LekkaPay integration and the same settlement and reporting, so offering the full wallet set costs you nothing in extra complexity.
FAQ
Google Pay questions, answered.
What is Google Pay?
Google Pay is Google's digital wallet. Customers save their cards to it once, then pay in apps and on websites with a single tap, confirmed by fingerprint, face or screen lock - no card details typed at checkout.
Is Google Pay safer than typing in a card number?
Yes. Google Pay replaces the real card number with a device-specific token and requires the customer's biometric or screen lock to approve each payment. A typed card number can be copied or phished; a device token confirmed by a fingerprint cannot be reused anywhere else.
Do I need extra integration work to accept Google Pay?
No. Google Pay is part of the standard LekkaPay integration and switches on as configuration. If you already accept cards through LekkaPay, adding Google Pay is a setting, not a project.
Which devices and browsers does Google Pay work on?
Any Android phone or tablet with a screen lock supports Google Pay in apps and on the web, and it also works in supported desktop and mobile browsers such as Chrome wherever the customer is signed in to their Google account.
Does 3-D Secure 2 still apply to Google Pay payments?
Where the issuing bank or regulation requires it, yes - and it usually runs frictionlessly, because a tokenised, biometrically confirmed wallet payment gives the issuer strong risk signals. Customers rarely see an extra step.
Method mix
Pairs well with Google Pay
Add Google Pay to your checkout.
Every way Africa pays, on one integration - add methods without new development.