WhoBuilt

How to properly implement mobile payments in your app and why you don’t do it from scratch

Apr 13, 2022· 3 min· 129 views·Watch on YouTube

Speaker

Host and Kuba of Callstack discuss why mobile app payments should use established payment providers, with no other location or guest stated.

A developer is asked to build payments

The host frames the question as a junior developer’s first assignment: accept credit card details in a mobile app. The developer has little knowledge of payment processors or security but wants to build the feature from scratch.

Payment systems are too complex to improvise

Kuba says developers could build payment processing themselves, but advises against it because the work is complicated. He points to rules, regulations, and security requirements that are difficult to understand and meet.

A payment flaw can cost customers money

Asked for a concrete risk, Kuba says a faulty payment system could cause customers to lose money. He contrasts this with a minor interface bug and explains that the stakes make security especially important.

Outsource sensitive systems

Kuba’s summary is not to build payment processing from scratch. He extends the advice to login systems, recommending that apps avoid handling users’ email and password data and rely on providers such as Google or other authentication services.

Takeaways

  • Use an established payment provider instead of building payment processing from scratch.
  • Treat payment security as protection against customers losing money, not just as a technical detail.
  • Avoid handling login credentials yourself when an authentication provider can manage them.

Mentioned in this talk

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What was claimed 4

  • uses
    Recommended payment processor alternative to implementing payments from scratch.
    “you probably shouldn’t do that”
    YouTube
    Unverified1 source· Talk
  • feature
    Kuba: Payment processing from scratch is too complicated because of security requirements and regulations.
    “it’s just too complicated”
    YouTube
    Unverified1 source· Talk
  • feature
    Payments: A faulty implementation can result in losing customers’ money.
    “you can lose your customers’ money”
    YouTube
    Unverified1 source· Talk
  • uses
    Recommends outsourcing login handling to providers such as Google.
    “outsource it to Google”
    YouTube
    Unverified1 source· Talk

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