Building a Mobile App to Accept Payments for eCommerce Transactions

Today, we use our mobile devices to pay for goods and services as well as send and receive messages and phone calls. According to Statista, the transaction value of mobile payment apps will reach around $15 trillion by 2022, demonstrating the industry's rapid growth. You will require a mobile app payment gateway if you intend to create a booking, event, or even an e-commerce company for app development to handle transactions. 

Your mobile strategy may include payments as a crucial component. If you already have an app, this indicates that the software will also accept mobile payments.

This sounds like a seductive—even obvious—option given the billions that both Google and Apple assert to have paid to developers. It might be, but developing a pop-up form and some back-end code to add payment functionality to an existing app can be far more difficult. The risks are increasing, and some new regulations have gone into effect. 

• Mobile Payment Gateway: What Is It?

A service that authorizes and handles payments in applications is known as a mobile payment gateway. Encryption and security procedures are used to transmit transaction data securely. A gateway facilitates financial transactions between clients and you, the merchant, by acting as a go-between service.

We'll walk you through the various payment gateway providers available on the market today and show you how to integrate a payment gateway using an SDK in your app in this article.

Let's first examine the mobile app payment gateway's operation.

• How do payments work in mobile apps?

Either the app or website gives you the opportunity to make an online payment using a built-in payment gateway when you purchase a new pair of sneakers or place a pizza order. You must enter the information about your cart in numerous fields in order to do it. The processing of payments for any native mobile app development company goes as follows:

• You provide the payment gateway with your card information.
• The bank that issued your card receives the information from the payment gateway.
• Your payment system receives the request from the bank (MasterCard, VISA, etc.)
• The payment system examines both your reputation and the length of the money transfer.
• Your bank notifies the payment system to proceed with the transaction by sending an authorization code.
• The money is then sent to the seller's bank account if the bank confirms the transaction once the code has been sent to the payment gateway.

If the internet connection is strong, all of these steps only take a few seconds. Now that you know, you can picture what happens when you pay for your orders online. You can also clearly observe how crucial payment gateway security is at the same time. Payment gateways process a sizable quantity of money and payment data per second. Most payment systems employ HTTPS secure protocol, IP address verification techniques, and even request signatures to protect personal data from breaches.

You have a few options for adding payment gateways to your app, which are described below.

• In-app purchasing methods

Depending on the type of products you are selling, your app can accept online payments in one of two ways:

• For virtual products, use App Store methods

Give your app access to a specific In-App Billing API for iOS and Android if you want to sell subscriptions, extra features, or premium accounts. Both Apple and Google deprive your mobile app of the right to use any third-party payment gateways and collect 30% of any transaction done there. Using the In-App Billing API, you can allow customers to make in-app purchases through the AppStore or Google Play using their Apple or Gmail accounts.

• Use the Payment Gateway when purchasing tangibles.

Both Apple and Google advise using third-party mobile payment gateway providers when selling goods and services outside of the app. You can incorporate SDK as one of the available in-app payment options into your app, which will handle all banking operations, protect user data, and handle payment transactions. 

• Selecting A Provider Of Mobile App Payment Solutions

The top three payment processors that offer SDK for on-demand app development integration are listed below. These service providers handle all data and monetary transactions, sparing you the trouble.

• Choose PayPal if you need a straightforward but efficient option. 
• Use Stripe or Braintree if you want to customize your payment gateway's appearance to match the look and feel of your website or app.

Let's move on to the next step after selecting the best payment gateway provider. 

• Integrating payment gateways into an app using an SDK

Every payment processor has a unique software development kit (SDK) and thorough instructions for integrating a payment gateway into a mobile app. As we've already mentioned, the key advantage of using an existing payment gateway's SDK is that they take charge of the security and transaction procedures. You can avoid getting a PCI certificate by using payment gateway libraries.

The strategy is the same, even though the integration specifics may change depending on the platform and dev tools. Let's see how to incorporate this gateway into an iOS mobile app using Braintree as an example.

• Create a client that will call your server.

You configure your client to contact your server at this stage. To accomplish that, you must:

• The SDK for the Braintree payment gateway can be downloaded and installed. You can find it by clicking the link.
• Your credentials, please. Create a client option on your server so that it may call it and retrieve the Braintree client tokens.
• Organize your client. Refer to the Braintree documentation to configure your client for the iOS SDK.
• For the payment process, call your server. 

• Set up your server to use the Braintree SDK 

To set up and carry out the payment, you configure your server to call the Braintree SDK during this step:

Get the Braintree SDK started:

• The module for the Braintree SDK, import. 
• Utilize your Braintree access token to set up a gateway.
• Create a URL that sends the browser a client token.
• Establish the payment
• Create a URL to handle client queries.
• Take the nonce from the body of the request.
• Set up the payment's execution parameters, such as the nonce.
• To complete the transaction, dial the Braintree gateway.
• Send the client a successful response back.
• Ask These Questions To Yourself Before Mobile Payment Gateway Selection
• What group do you want to appeal to?

Some payment channels might be accessible in the nations where consumers of your mobile app come from. Make sure the mobile payment gateway provider will function in your desired locations before choosing it. For instance, PayPal is available in more than 200 countries, whereas Stripe is supported in only 25. Additionally, some payment gateways, like TSYS in the UK or PayPal in the US, could be more common in particular nations.

• What forms of payment do users of your mobile app prefer?

Various mobile payment gateways support different payment methods. Prior to integrating a payment gateway into the mobile app, learn which payment options your customers prefer. 40% of mobile app consumers claim that apps with many payment options give them more confidence.

Having a mobile store with one payment method you've never even heard of seems very sketchy.

• What is the price?

Every payment gateway levies a transaction fee. The costs for most payment gateways are approximately 2.9% of the total amount paid.

In addition to setup fees, payment gateways may also charge monthly fees.

• Can I customize and scale the mobile payment gateway?

It's critical to plan ahead when integrating a mobile application payment gateway if your organization is expanding. Before integrating recurring payments on a mobile app, ensure your payment gateway provider has sufficient customization options. 

• Are there any security certificates on it?

Ensure your mobile payment gateway provider is reliable when dealing with sensitive data, such as credit card information. When clients see reliable payment alternatives on a website, more than 80% feel protected.

You might consider using additional database software to secure the payment data while choosing a payment gateway.

There are numerous additional options available; two of the most popular ones are Stripe and Braintree, both of which are owned by PayPal. But handling the entire process inside the context of the app without making it so complicated or buggy that consumers delete the app is just as crucial as having the technical ability to submit payment.

In some ways, adding mobile payments to your app could appear straightforward. But maintaining the entire app user-friendly while juggling all the issues—from business intent to security worries and technology implementation—is by no means simple. 

All commercial mobile apps require a payment gateway. Use the SDK of an established payment gateway, such as PayPal, Braintree, or Stripe, to provide your app access to this feature. You have the option of integrating the SDK yourself or hiring a development team to handle all the settings and integrations on your behalf.