
That’s according to data from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, which released its fourth annual report on mobile banking this week.
The study’s definition of a mobile payment is a payment made on a mobile device, so while Apple Pay certainly qualifies, so would completing a purchase on Amazon on a mobile phone.
The most common use case identified in the study was paying a bill online:
- Paid bills online through a mobile web browser or app – 19%
- Made an online or in-app purchase (e.g., from amazon.com or bestbuy.com) – 16%
- Paid for a product or service at a store (including at gas pumps and for restaurant meals) – 11%
- Transferred money directly to another person’s bank or other financial account within the United States (e.g., PayPal account) – 10%
- Received money from another person’s bank or other financial account (e.g., PayPal account) – 9%
- Used an app to receive loyalty or reward points – 9%
- Paid for parking, a taxi, or public transit using an app – 5%
- Made a payment using a text message (including charitable donation by text message) – 3%
- Send a remittance (used to send money to relatives or friends living outside the U.S through WesternUnion, USPS SureMoney, etc.) – 3%
And for those who did not use mobile payments in 2014, here are the reasons why:
- 75% – It’s easier to pay with cash or a credit/debit card
- 59% – I don’t see any benefit from using mobile payments
- 59% – I’m concerned about the security of mobile payments
- 41% – I don’t trust the technology
- 37% – I don’t have the necessary feature on my phone
- 31% – I don’t really understand all the different mobile payment options
- 31% – It’s difcult or time consuming to set up or use mobile payments
- 23% – I don’t need to make any payments or someone else pays the bills
- 23% – The places I shop don’t accept mobile payments
Among 18- to 29-year-olds, the percentage of mobile payments users in 2014 was 34%, compared with just 7% of those 60 and older. Last year those numbers were 28% and 7%, respectively. Meanwhile, 31% of those age 30 to 44 used mobile payments in 2014, compared with 21% the year prior. For 45- to 59 year-olds, 16% used mobile payments in 2014 vs. 13% the year before.
Here is the study’s data on mobile payment usage by race:
- White, non-Hispanic – 17% (vs. 12% in 2013)
- Black, non-Hispanic – 34% (vs. 34% in 2013)
- Other, non-Hispanic – 24% (vs. 16% in 2013)
- Hispanic – 32% (vs. 26% in 2013)
- 2 races, non-Hispanic – 23% (vs. 31% in 2013)





