Tencent breaks down the payment barrier in China with TenPayGo: support for 60 global wallets and email-only registration
Are you thinking of traveling to China? So, WeChat has news for you. For those who do not know, in the Asian country NFC technology is not usually used to pay with a mobile phone nor are credit cards. All money moves happily thanks to QR codes that connect to payment gateways. Yes, that is the reason why the first Chinese phones, such as the award-winning Pocophone F1, came without this chip. In view of that, Tencent has launched TenPayGo, an app developed by WeChat designed especially for tourists to make their payments.
Although there were alternatives to pay before, the process could be quite complex. The idea behind TenPayGo is simple. All you need to do is provide an email address. No Chinese bank accounts or local phone numbers. With just that information, the visitor will be able to register for the service.
Compatibility with payment networks, above all
In the compatibility section, the tool communicates with up to seven international card networks. Yes, among them are Visa and Mastercard. In addition, about sixty foreign digital wallets are integrated, such as Apple Pay itself.
This architecture allows users to pay directly at the merchant without the need to exchange currencies. The platform unifies the most widespread payment methods in the West and Asia under a single gateway adapted to international banking standards.
Beyond shopping in stores, the application solves another of the common problems for foreigners, which is access to urban public transport. That is why it is so interesting that the app can generate dynamic QR codes within the app itself. With these codes, it will be possible to validate your trips on the bus lines and on the shenzhen metro network without purchasing physical cards or hiring local SIM chips.
TenPayGo inherits the concept of superapp so typical of china
In China it is common for an app to be used for many things. Imagine that we put Instagram, WhatsApp and Apple Pay in the same app. In fact, it is a typical feature of, for example, the WeChat platform, which is so widespread in the country. Well, although TenPayGo is designed to facilitate payments for tourists, the truth is that it inherits that superapp. Why do we say it?
Well, basically because Tencent has integrated AI tools that aim to give the user a hand in tasks such as instant translation of menus in restaurants through the phone’s camera. Likewise, the app also includes a visual recognition function that allows you to identify monuments or commercial products by surrounding them on the touch screen to consult contextual information.
