How to set up payment methods in the Play Store

[Brad Ward]

The Play Store has hundreds of thousands of free and useful applications; however, the more quality apps out there usually cost you a bit of money. That’s certainly not a bad thing, but it can be frustrating if you don’t know how to set up payment methods in the Play Store.

Stick with us, and we’ll take you step-by-step on adding your first credit card to the Play Store. We’ll even show you how to set up parental controls so children you hand your phone too can’t just buy hundreds of dollars worth of in-app purchases!


Setting up a credit card






It’s relatively easy to set up a payment method in the Play Store. Just follow the steps listed below:

• Open the Play Store app
• Hit the menu button at the top right corner
• Select “My Account”

You will now see three options for adding a payment method. If you want, you can either add a credit or debit card, PayPal account, or even redeem credit you’ve purchased in-store.



To add a credit card, tap “Add credit or debit card” and then follow the instructions to add all of your card information.

And that’s it! You now should be able to buy anything on the Play Store with that card on file.

Adding a PayPal account




Adding a PayPal account can be a bit more complex. To get started, we’ll follow some of the same steps listed above:

• Open the Play Store app
• Hit the menu button at the top right corner
• Select “My Account”

Instead of tapping “Add a credit or debit card” you’ll need to select “Add PayPal” this time. Next, once the prompt appears, type in the email address you use to log into PayPal along with the password right below that. Once that information is filled out, select “Log In.”

You’re all set! You are now able to purchase things using the funds you have in your PayPal account.

Redeeming credit




Redeeming Google Play Store credit is just as easy, if not simpler, than adding a credit card or PayPal account to your payment methods. Again, the steps start out similarly as the last two options:

• Open the Play Store app
• Hit the menu button at the top right corner
• Select “My Account”

This time you’ll want to select “Redeem.” Simply type in the code on the back of your prepaid Google Play Store credit you got from the store and hit “redeem.”

It’s that easy!

Setting up parental controls


If you ever hand your phone or tablet to a child to calm them down or keep them quiet, you’ll want to make sure you have parental controls set up in the Play Store.

By not doing this, you put yourself at risk to losing a bit of money. I’m speaking from experience here–I let a child use my smartphone, and that child ended up buying $99 worth of gems in Clash of Clans.

• Open the Play Store app
• Hit the menu button at the top right corner
• Tap “Settings”
• Select “Require authentication for purchases”

From there, you can select how many times the Play Store should inquire about authentication, whether that be for every purchase, every 30 minutes, or never. I chose the for every purchase option, just to be on the safe side.

This will require the user to enter the main account owner’s Google password every time someone wants to purchase something, potentially saving you hundreds of dollars from the antics of children.

Wrap Up


As you can see, it’s fairly easy to set up new payment methods in the Google Play Store, but in doing that, it’s important to make sure you have security measures put in place.

Happy shopping!


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