UPI payments work across all apps for users in India, and now the feature is being expanded to work without a PIN number. Yes, you can easily activate UPI payments using biometric features like your fingerprint sensor for your bank account or Face ID for iPhone users. UPI payments have become common across the country and are now available in select markets outside India as well. However, the threat of UPI scams has made it necessary to further strengthen the payment system.
And while taking UPI payments out of the PIN ecosystem means that the likelihood of UPI scams is significantly reduced, these changes also make using payment apps easier and more secure.
One-tap UPI payments: How it works
Most smartphones come with support for facial and biometric security through fingerprints, and UPI is leveraging these features to securely approve payments.
In the coming days, these will be available through Paytm, Google Pay, and other apps, allowing you to use on-device security instead of the risk of using a four- or six-digit UPI PIN for payments. We recently tried the new UPI security option, and it makes biometric security the best option for making payments.
You can go to the payment settings of any popular UPI app and get the option to enable the fingerprint payment feature for any of your accounts running on the platform.
It was previously reported that the new feature would work with Aadhaar-linked bank accounts and their biometric profiles. However, we managed to get the feature working on one of our test accounts, which now requires a single tap on the screen to authenticate payments. This way, you don't have to worry about people peeking at your screen to see the PIN number for payments.
Despite this, tapping the screen to make a payment seems easier, and there's a chance someone could misuse this feature (or find a way to). NPCI previously removed the payment request feature from UPI apps in the country, making it more secure and preventing major online scams from withdrawing money from your account.
PC: News18
