The two most popular payment apps in the world, Google Pay and Apple Pay, cannot yet be used to get State Cashback: here’s why and what IO says.
Since the first period of the semi-annual ordinary State Cashback started, while waiting to receive the first refund for the Christmas Extra Cashback, many users are starting to wonder when Google Pay and Apple Pay apps will be added among the valid payment methods to accumulate the 10% refunds.
The question is not peregrine, indeed, because these apps are increasingly used by users and ensure convenience and security of electronic payments. Basically, thanks to apps like Apple Pay and Google Pay (but also others, like Samsung Pay), we can even leave our wallet at home and go shopping: we’ll pay with the cell phone we always have in our pocket. At the moment, however, if we use these apps we lose the cashback even if we have registered the same payment cards in them as in the Wallet section of the IO app. The reason is simple: if we pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay the transaction goes through an additional intermediary, not affiliated with PagoPa. When will this end?
Cashback, Google Pay and Apple Pay: January is ending
In December, at the launch of Christmas Cashback, PagoPa specified almost immediately that Apple Pay and Google Pay could not be used for cashback purposes. Even though they contained the same cards already registered on IO.
At the time, the public company stated that these apps would be compatible with ordinary state cashback, starting in “January 2021.” In the meantime, within days, other apps like Satispay (absolutely similar to Google Pay and Apple Pay in operation) became compatible.
Although everyone expected that the world’s two most popular and widely used payment apps would be usable by early January, that clearly wasn’t the case: as of mid-January, there’s still no announcement about when we’ll be able to use them for State Cashback purposes.
Cashback and apps: what IO says on Facebook
As is known by now to all those who have embraced the State Cashback program, the only interface that is even slightly communicative between user and State Cashback is the Facebook page IO, the public services app. Si tratta della pagina ufficiale dell’app IO, che a sua volta è sviluppata da PagoPa.
A cosa serva la pagina lo scrive direttamente IO in un post: “questa pagina Facebook non possiamo darti assistenza tecnica, ma solo fornirti informazioni o chiarire alcuni aspetti relativi al funzionamento di IO, rimandando sempre ai contenuti ufficiali o agli appositi canali per chiedere supporto“.
Il canale ufficiale per il supporto in cui possiamo ottenere informazioni su quando potremo usare Google Pay e Apple Pay ai fini del Cashback è la pagina del sito Web di IO dedicata ai metodi di pagamento. Una pagina che, però, non viene aggiornata dal 15 dicembre 2020.
Su Facebook, invece, alla domanda “Ci sono previsioni per l’aggiunta di Apple Pay e GPay? Entro quando?“, IO risponde che “ne sarà data comunicazione quando saranno aggiunti. Grazie“. To another comment, however, IO responds that “ApplePay and similar services like GooglePay will also be added in the coming weeks.”
So, in mid-January, there is still no official date as of which we will be able to use Apple Pay and Google Pay to pay and get State Cashback.