Half of UK adults now pay on mobile

Half of UK adults are now regularly paying for things by tapping their phone, new banking data suggests.

A surge in the use of mobile payments via services such as Apple Pay or Google Pay has been recorded across different age groups, figures from trade body UK Finance show.

“People are more comfortable leaving their home with just their phone,” said Adrian Buckle, its head of research.

He said the “change of consumer behaviour” was clear as last year marked the first time 50% of adults used mobile payments at least once a month – up from 34% in 2023.

Consumers are increasingly storing card details on phones or watches and making contactless payments backed up by facial or fingerprint verification, instead of pressing in a PIN.

Some 78% of 16 to 24-year-olds regularly used mobile payments last year, and even more are registered to use them.

Older age groups are increasingly choosing this option too. For example, nearly two-thirds (59%) of 35 to 44-year-olds regularly made mobile payments in 2024, up from 38% a year earlier.

A fifth (19%) of those aged 65 and over often paid by phone.

The proportion of adults regularly using physical contactless cards dipped slightly as a result, although debit cards remain the most popular way to pay. Cash has continued to become less common in transactions – although nearly 50 million people still used ATMs.

“Cash fell below 10% of all payments,” Mr Buckle said. “These changes weren’t just driven by younger consumers. We saw growth in mobile wallets and Buy Now Pay Later across older age groups too, highlighting how digital payments are becoming more mainstream across the board.”

In 2023, with household finances stretched, the number of people mainly using cash picked up as it helped them to budget.

That number fell last year, but campaigners say notes and coins must remain part of the mix for consumers.

“While the number of people relying on cash continues to fall, we know that those who do are often on lower incomes or the more vulnerable,” said Adrian Roberts, deputy chief executive of Link, which oversees cash access and the ATM network.

“We must not sleepwalk into a digital-only society before everyone is ready.”

He said there were also questions over resilience for a digital-only payments system, such as the back-up options during a widespread power outage.

MPs on the Treasury Committee recently said that shops and services may have to be forced to accept cash in the future to help protect vulnerable people who rely on it.

Meanwhile, the UK’s financial regulator has proposed that banks and card providers set their own limits on contactless card payments or are allowed to remove the current £100 payment limit entirely.

That would make entering a PIN even more of a rarity, as smartphones – with extra in-built security – already have no limit on contactless payments via a digital wallet.