Tap to Pay is the safest way to use a debit or credit card. It sounds absurd, we know. Why would the fastest method of using your card be the most secure? Don’t worry we can explain.
Dipping and tapping both make use of an EMV chip — which stands for Europay, Mastercard, and Visa, the original three companies that standardized and automated payment by chip. EMV chips are secure because they use a unique digital signature for each transaction.
Swiping, on the other hand, uses the magnetic stripe on the back of debit cards or credit cards. The data on these magnetic stripes are unencrypted making them susceptible to skimming. In fact, Mastercard has started to remove the magnetic stripes on some of their cards this year and will phase them out completely by 2033.
💡 Bottom Line: Tapping and Dipping are faster and more secure than Swiping.
Is it Better to Tap or Dip Your Card?
Tap to Pay is more secure and more convenient than dipping or swiping. So you should always tap to pay if this method is available in-store.
“But Tap to Pay is susceptible to EMV relay attacks!” you yell at your screen. Yes, NFC-enabled cards are susceptible to replay/relay attacks. But it’s the NFC-enabled card or device that’s in danger of a replay attack.
- So even when you dip or swipe to pay, you can still fall prey to replay attacks as long as you have a contactless debit or credit card.
- Not to mention replay attacks are a lot less common than skimming due to how close the attacker needs to get to your card (they need to tap it). As well as the limited timeframe they have to pull money from your account (less than a minute).
You can purchase RFID wallets or cardholders to protect yourself from relay attacks. To protect yourself from skimming fraud, you’ll need to try to dismantle every payment terminal (in search of skimmers) you want to use before dipping or swiping.
💡 Bottom Line: Dipping is susceptible to skimming AND replay attacks. Tapping is susceptible to replay attacks but you can mitigate that risk by using RFID-blocking wallets.
How Does Tap to Pay Work?
Tap to Pay uses NFC (near-field communications) technology to send the unique, one-time code that EMV chips generate to the payment terminal.
The main difference between tapping your card from inserting it into the payment terminal is that tapping is faster and sends less information.
Inserting your card into a payment terminal results in all of your card information being accessed (which is why dipping takes longer than tapping). Tapping your card only sends the unique one-time code over.
Swiping Your Card is Your Last Resort
Have you ever inserted your debit card or credit card into the card reader at the store only to hear the aggressive series of beeps that indicate your card has not been accepted? The clerk probably followed it up with, “Try swiping it.”
Swiping might be less secure but it’s often the last resort when tapping or dipping doesn’t work. But if you don’t know how to swipe correctly, then you better hope that you have some cash in your pockets.
How to Correctly Swipe a Debit Card or a Credit Card
Swiping a debit or credit card should be easy, but the introduction of EMV chips caused a lot of cards to change the orientation of their magnetic stripe. So the first thing you need to do is to check if the magnetic stripe of your card is located on the top or the bottom of the card.
Once you’ve found the magnetic stripe of your card, follow these steps:
- Hold the part of the card that DOESN’T have the magnetic stripe.
- Make sure that the magnetic stripe is facing the credit/debit card swiper.
- Swipe the card QUICKLY
💡 Note: It might seem like it’s better to swipe slowly but that’s not the case. You want the magnetic stripe to generate a bit of electricity via induction so you’ll need to swipe quickly.
What to Do if Swiping the Card Doesn’t Work?
If swiping is your last resort, what can you do if even that doesn’t work? Well, there’s one last thing you can try.
- Cover the magnetic stripe with a plastic bag or with a paper receipt then swipe it.
There are two main reasons why swiping fails:
- The credit card swiper is dirty
- The magnetic head of the swiper is in the wrong position
In both cases, covering the magnetic stripe with a thin plastic or paper while swiping is the solution. This make-shift solution both cleans the swiper and realigns whatever piece is out of place.
Dip, Tap, Swipe: Does it Matter How You Pay?
Security and convenience aren’t the only factors you need to consider when it comes to card payment methods. Here are all the major factors that you need to consider before dipping, tapping, or swiping your card:
- Speed
- Convenience
- Physical security
- Transaction security
- Cleanliness
- Card longevity
- Acceptability
Around 2015, many major debit and credit card companies, as well as merchants, began making the move from the standard swipe technology to dip. The move cracked down on debit and credit card fraud and has become one of the more convenient ways to conduct a transaction. And now these financial institutions are pushing for contactless.
But magnetic stripe technology is still going to be prevalent in the US for years to come. So until then, let’s compare the three:
Speed
- Tapping is the fastest. When you’re standing at the payment terminal of your favorite store, tapping your card goes at lightning speed compared to dipping or swiping.
- Swiping would be faster than dipping if it didn’t fail half the time. So if we’re counting re-swipes then Dipping and Swiping take up the same amount of time on average. With that said, when dipping fails, there’s usually nothing you can do.
Convenience
- All cards — whether they are chip cards, contactless cards, or cards with a magnetic stripe — have made it easier and more accessible to conduct debit and credit card transactions all around the world. Cards are compact, easily manageable, and let you pay for goods and services when and where you need to.
- But tap to pay is no doubt the most convenient. They’re called contactless payments for a reason. Dipping and Swiping share the second place. Unless you read our tips above on how to swipe correctly that is. If that’s the case swiping would be more convenient.
Physical security
- While contactless cards are the most secure when it comes to regular usage, they’re the least secure in terms of being physically stolen. Since they usually don’t require a PIN or a signature to use, if they’re stolen then you need to act quickly and call your card provider immediately.
- Surprisingly, even though they are rapidly becoming obsolete, swipe cards are the most secure in terms of being physically stolen since they require a signature when used.
- The physical security of EMV chip cards depends on the type of card you have. Chip-and-pin cards and Chip-and-signature cards are just as physically secure as swipe cards.
Transaction security
- Believe it or not, your name, your credit card number, and your card’s expiration date are all stored in a card’s magnetic stripe UNENCRYPTED. So someone with a cheap machine can skim all of this information in one swipe.
- EMV chips take the cake with transaction security. And among the two, Tap to Pay wins once again. So always tap to pay if the option is available.
Cleanliness
- The global pandemic has changed the world as we know it. The simple act of typing in the PIN is now considered risky since it’s a vector for germs and viruses. So tap to pay wins this round once again.
- Swipe cards are worse if you don’t bring your own pen. So please bring your own pen if you’re going to swipe your card.
Card longevity
- Debit and credit cards that you swipe are subject to a lot of wear and tear, which is to be expected. Some cards are more durable than others, but the fact of the matter is that when you are constantly dipping and swiping your card through a payment machine, it’s going to lose its stability and shine over time.
- For contactless cards, one tap, and you’re done. So your card will last longer if you tap to pay. If it feels like we’re repeating the same thing over and over, it’s because tap-to-pay is superior to dipping and swiping in so many ways.
Acceptability
- The biggest downside to tapping is that the US is behind most developed countries when it comes to integrating NFC technology into their payment systems. Case in point, it’s 2024, and Walmart still doesn’t accept Apple Pay.
- Swipe cards may be the most widely accepted payment method today but with Mastercard planning to phase out their swipe cards by 2033, Visa and Europay may follow suit eventually.
- Swiping wins in terms of acceptability for now. But this should change in the near future.
