Google Inc. is pushing mobile payments one step further by enabling consumers to pay without presenting cash, payment card—or even a smartphone.

Google is piloting a new payment app, called Hands Free, at a small number McDonald’s and Papa John’s restaurants, and local eateries, all in the South Bay of San Francisco, Google says in a blog announcing the test.

Hands Free will allow shoppers to check out in stores without taking out their smartphone. Here’s how it works: The app uses Bluetooth low energy, Wi-Fi and location services on a consumer’s smartphone. A consumer waits in line to checkout, but instead of presenting the cashier with cash, a credit card or smartphone, she says, “I’ll pay with Google,” and tells the cashier her initials. The cashier will confirm the shopper’s identity with the profile picture she added to her Hands Free account in the app.

The cashier can only charge a consumer if Hands Free detects the shopper is near the store via location services in the consumer’s smartphone. The shopper will also receive a notification on her smartphone once the payment goes through.

Google is soliciting consumer feedback on the new app and is offering $5 off a shopper’s first Hand Free purchase to encourage consumers to use it.

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“While the pilot is still in early stages, we’ve come to a point where we’re ready to invite people in the South Bay to test Hands Free with us,” Google writes in the blog.

Google is also testing another version of Hands Free in which the store will confirm the shopper’s identity via an in-store camera. All images captured by the Hands Free camera are deleted immediately, Google says.

Hands Free works with both Android devices 4.2 and later and iPhones 4S and later.

Hands Free is as separate app from Android Pay, Android’s mobile payment app that works by enabling consumers to tap their smartphone to a retailer’s point-of-sale system. Since Android Pay’s launch in September 2015, Google has averaged 1.5 million new consumer registrations each month in the U.S., according to Google. Two million locations accept the NFC payment, Google says.

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Hands Free joins a slew of other mobile payment options, including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay. Since none of these payments methods are accepted everywhere, consumer adoption has yet to take off, says Eric Shea, partner a digital retail constancy Kurt Salmon Digital.

“In order to start taking advantage of this technology, retailers have to update their POS hardware to support the payment technology,” Shea says. “Based on the recent rollout of Europay, MasterCard and Visa chip and signature [credit and debit cards with chips that require the customer to sign, but not enter a PIN], it’s going to take a long time before we see one of these technologies widely adopted.”

 

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