Charge to Mobile - Now on Apple App Store, Google Play Store & More

[Chris_K]

The smartphone has revolutionised and changed most things we do in our daily lives. With it, you’re a photographer, musician, blogger or gamer; you can do everything with your phone.

If you didn’t know, you can also use it like a bank card. And we’re not talking about contactless payments – that’s so 2017… We’ve got something simpler and even more seamless. Hello, Charge to Mobile.

What is Charge to Mobile?
It’s a mobile payment technology that allows you to make purchases that go directly onto your monthly mobile bill, or come out of your available credit. So if you’re a Pay Monthly customer and your bill comes out on the 1st of the month, anything you buy before then using Charge to Mobile will be bundled into your monthly phone bill, helping you manage your monthly spend a little easier and helping you track your mobile purchases. For our Pay As You Go customers, any purchases made with Charge to Mobile are taken from your available credit.

What can I use Charge to Mobile with?
You can use it to pay for your monthly music subscription, buy games and apps, pay for music, movies or ebooks – all with the benefit of the payments being bundled in with your monthly mobile bill, or coming off your Pay As You Go credit. Here’s a list of places you can use Charge to Mobile:

• On the App Store to buy apps, music, movies, books and more, including Apple Music subscriptions and iCloud storage on iPhone & iPad devices
• On Google Play Store to buy apps, music, movies and more, including Google Play subscriptions on Android devices
• In the Microsoft Store to buy apps, movies and more for your Xbox or Windows device
• Pay for your monthly Spotify subscription
• Buy PS4, PS3 and PS Vita content through the PlayStation store
• Buy games and apps to use on Facebook

How do you setup Charge to Mobile?
It’s super easy. Just follow the instructions below to get up and running, depending on which mobile device you have:

On iPhone:

1. Go to the App Store.
2. Select Account
3. Tap ‘Apple ID’ and sign in.
4. Go to ‘Payment Information’.
5. Select ‘Mobile Phone’.
6. Tap ‘Use This Mobile Number’.

On Android:

1. Choose what you want to buy on Google Play and go to buy.
2. Go to the ‘Payment Methods’ window. It should appear automatically. If not, go back to the window with the ‘Buy’ button and open the dropdown menu by tapping the arrow next to the price.
3. Choose ‘Use O2 Billing’, follow the steps and then enter your details and save as your payment method.

On Microsoft:

1. Go to the Microsoft Store
2. Select the content you want to buy.
3. Select “Mobile Phone” and “O2” as your payment method.
4. Enter your phone number, and the verification code when prompted.

Is Charge to Mobile safe?
Absolutely! We only work with sellers we trust. And we check services to make sure they meet industry standards. Using Charge to Mobile also means that you don’t need to remember or share any bank details, as purchases are billed directly to your Pay Monthly bill or Pay As You Go credit – which you can see via the My O2 app or online.

So, what are you waiting for?
Charge to Mobile gives our customers an easy way to pay for their mobile purchases, from your monthly music subscription on Spotify, to buying games, apps and more on your Apple, Android or Microsoft device. If you’re not already making use of the service, there’s never been a better time to start.

If you've used Charge to Mobile, let us know of any feedback you may have about it – if you had any issues, or if it was an absolute breeze to setup and use – which from our 80%+ satisfaction score, we’re sure it will be. And if you've not used it yet, let us know why

[adamtemp64]

Nice to see this now works last time I checked only EE for iTunes etc

[Cleoriff]

Thanks for the info @Chris_K. Should make iPhone users very happy.

[pgn]

Now I wonder how that appears on a fully-itemised VAT Invoice...?

Ever more innovative ways of separating you from your money, Apple or Android, good post, @Chris_K. 

I think I'll stick to the proximity chip on my cash card for purchases for now, as it is tucked into the pocket on the front flap on my OP3T, thank you. 

[Anonymous]

How does this mesh with all the people we have on complaining about unwanted premium services and lack of two step authorisation, for charge to mobile , or am I missing something?

[MI5]

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@Anonymous wrote:

How does this mesh with all the people we have on complaining about unwanted premium services and lack of two step authorisation, for charge to mobile , or am I missing something?

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Two completely different things....

[Anonymous]

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@MI5 wrote:

Two completely different things....

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Well they are related as everything falls under 'Charge to Mobile' and involves O2 wanting to be a bank or at least a third party payment provider, whilst not investing in the systems or authentication mechanisms that being that entails.

Google and PayPal at least provide pretty strong authentication systems in their own right, in addition to the strong bank or credit card account authentication directly linked to the account or app,  And the banks also impose onerous criteria on the app and device that the card concerned links too.

O2 will allow payments to be made without doing any such authentication relying on the service provider systems alone and take NO responsibility for fraudulent transactions. And are not in anyway regulated for banking services.

And the most  ironic thing is that the device that is provided by 02 who also provide two essential elements of its security ie the data connection, and phone number, can be made to be incredibly secure, for example the main banking apps and payment systems. Just not by O2, for its apps and payment systems.

It's like having a fort with great holes in the walls with a pallet full of money out in the open and then much more secure strong rooms in side and even more secure rooms inside those, and expecting the thieves to walk past the cash that's freely available to get to the strong rooms.

[adamtemp64]

@Anonymous the term “charge to mobile” is a payment system and not a premium rate numbers scam etc  in. My eyes.

When i tried it last night to add my payment method to charge to mobile on apple i was a already signed into my Apple ID account via 2 step authentication and it states you may get an sms to confirm . But I guess as i did it all over the cell data network I guess it already was authenticating against my o2 number .

[Anonymous]

Posted in error

[Anonymous]

Ok @adamtemp64 let's see if we can break this down a little bit, you might need to bear with me, because it's not the most straightforward of subjects to explain.

Also this will be grossly oversimplified, but at root payment systems work in one of two ways.

Firstly with the use of a credit, debit or charge card and secondly with the with the use of a bank or building society account

A merchant capable of accepting card payments will have an account with an acquiring bank and that bank will belong to one or more card associations, that are made up of (card transactiion) acquiring banks and (card transaction) issuing banks under a brand eg Visa. 

So you pop along to Costa Coffee with your brand new Aquamarine Barclaycard and order a delicious and refreshing  salted caramel Frappucapufrappuccino. You wave your card over the card reader and Costa Coffees acquiring bank say HSBC, take payment on Costas behalf, as they have a line of credit with the bank.

Then the payment details are transmitted via the visa network to the card issuing bank in this case Barclays. Now as you have a line of credit with Barclays, they agree the payment, and issue funds to HSBC who in turn issue them to Costa Coffee. It could be that when you are making the transaction further forms of verification are required for example a pin code. The bottom line is that the acquiring bank will make very sure that you are authorised to make the payment, and will issue an authorisation code so that the Merchant can be sure they will get paid. You get your delicious coffee, Costa get their cash, and the banks get reassurance that everybody will pay their bills.

The second main mechanism for payment has a bank or building society account at its core. Normally the only person who can authorise payments from your bank account is you, and again this is grossly oversimplified but it is possible to give ongoing power of fund withdrawal to a third party using the instrument that is commonly known as a direct debit, car covered by an indemnifying scheme the direct debit guarantee which means if a direct debit is taken in error or against your wishes then you have the right to seek redress under the guarantee.

This time the relationship is between your bank and the direct debit requestors bank directly. Lets say you've decided Fido needs regular professional fur care. Dogtags and Glad Wags Professional Dog Salon's monthly plan. A direct debit mandate is produced and signed, possibly electronically.

Payments are requested taken every month by the Salon, and Fido's golden.

Cause of this ridiculous platform, my tablet keeps posting messages before I am ready.. therefore I shall carry on in the next post.