Payment Gateway Integration in a Mobile Application

When it comes to e-payment systems in general, and specifically mobile commerce, online merchants' primary concern is the processing of digital transactions. This leads us to the next question: how do you include an online payment gateway in an app? Below, we will attempt to answer some clarifying and probing questions in order to understand the reasons for the popularity of a payment gateway in general, as well as the fundamental principles of its integration in mobile apps.

What is a mobile payment gateway?

A payment gateway is a service that makes online shopping safe and secure for users. Users' money is wired to a payment gateway-enabled merchant's account throughout the purchasing process on their mobile devices or desktop computers. It can be done using credit cards or other types of internet transaction processing, among other things.

Payment gateways are analogous to electronic funds transfers at the point of sale (EFTPOS.) A built-in gateway, like EFTPOS, is a system that allows mobile or web app users to make digital fund transfers and purchases safely and quickly.

Understanding how a payment gateway works

It is difficult to imagine a mobile application that accepts in-app payments on a regular basis surviving without a payment gateway and app payment system integration. A gateway is essentially a middleman who authorises the transaction, assists with data encryption, and fills the order. It also serves as a link between the merchant's app, the user's shopping cart, the acquiring (merchant's) bank, which usually serves as a payment processor, and the issuing (cardholder's) bank. The following is a suggested sequence of events that comprise the payment gateway-driven online payment process:

• A user browses an online merchant's store, selects what he or she requires, and adds it to the shopping cart.
• The chosen items must be paid for right now. However, before the card can be charged, it must first be authorised.
• The payment gateway receives credit or debit card information as well as other transaction details entered into an app.
• It sends the received data to the cardholder's bank via the payment processor.
• If the verification is successful, information is returned to the app via a payment gateway.
• Finally, the payment gateway initiates a payment settlement, and funds are deposited into the merchant's bank account.

Steps for integrating a mobile payment gateway into Android and iOS applications

Before we get into the specifics of how to implement a payment gateway in a mobile app, one thing should be mentioned. You may have heard about Google Play Billing and Apple's In-App Purchase from time to time. These are services that allow you to sell digital content on mobile devices. As purchasing mechanisms, they enable you to purchase content that is only available within your Android or iOS app. Surprisingly, Google Play Billing and In-App Purchases eat into the merchant's profits by charging 30% transaction fees. As a result, when selling these types of in-app products, a merchant will only receive 70%.

Third-party payment gateways, on the other hand, have nothing to do with digital purchases, but they do open the door to selling physical goods and services outside of an Android or iOS app. Unfortunately, there is no magic button that will turn on your best online payment gateway. Instead, you must put forth the effort to integrate it into your application. This integration is done in stages and includes the following components:

Client and server SDKs

Each payment gateway vendor provides its own software development kit, or SDK. They can be found on the official websites of the providers and are used by developers to connect the existing app functionality and make work easier. The provider's client and server SDKs work together to collect and process payment information.

APIs

The gateway API keys aid in the configuration of SDKs and libraries, which is an important part of developing payment gateway integration in mobile applications. That is, if sellers want to have more control over the checkout experience, they must use APIs based on REST.

Third-party apps

You can integrate with a gateway provider using them with almost no prior programming experience.