Paying by contactless increasingly doesn't even require you to make contact with the physical plastic card.
e wallet-wallet apps like Apple, Google and Samsung Pay allow you to store your debit or credit card on your smartphone and make payments that way. 
For higher spenders, it can be more convenient - the fact payments are authenticated with either your fingerprint or a passcode means the UK ?30 contactless limit doesn't apply.




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The UK came third with 5% of all transactions in 2017 made using digital wallet apps - where your card is stored digitally on your smartphone - leading all of its European neighbours

China was also previously revealed to have the second-highest contactless limit in the world, ?111.94, after Japan. 
China likely leads the pack by such a wide margin because the development of its contactless technology has gone hand-in-hand with mobile payments.

Countries with the highest eWallet usage: 
Country  % of transactions made using eWallets in 2017

China 36 

India  6 

UAE  6 

UK  5 

Germany  5 

Indonesia 5 

South Africa  5 

Global card providers Visa and Mastercard are banned in China, while only two per cent of its population own credit cards - as the process is difficult and expensive. 
By contrast, the value of Chinese mobile payments in 2017 was nearly ?12trillion, thanks to tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent.
Digital banking expert Chris Skinner told Raconteur: 'They were able to leapfrog in China because most people didn't have credit cards, debit cards or plastic of any kind.
'So when mobile payment apps first came out, they immediately caught on. 
'The market was essentially primed. It was a unique set of circumstances.'
In India, one key eWallet platform is called Paytm, valued at around $10billion. Once you transfer cash into the Paytm wallet, a QR code is used to make in-store payments. 
US payment provider PayPal actually filed a trademark case against Paytm in November 2016, claiming Paytm's logo was too similar to its own.









With cash estimated to constitute just 17% of transactions by 2022, the value we spend through digital wallet apps will also go up instead - particularly if contactless limits rise

Three per cent of transactions in the US are made using eWallet apps, but as This is Money has previously reported, the tap trend has not really taken off there. 
Its contactless limit is just ?19, while according to Visa fewer than 10 per cent of payments are made using contactless.
It remains to be seen whether Apple's new credit card, which is operated through its Apple Wallet app and offers more generous cashback if you pay using Apple Pay, shakes things up there.







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More surprisingly Canada, which has the third-highest global contactless limit of ?58.81, saw just one per cent of all transactions made using digital wallet payments. 
This puts it among the countries who use this method the least; along with Colombia, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines and Poland.
Generally, however, this is a way of paying that is expected to grow. 
Payment provider Worldpay, currently in the midst of a $43billion deal with Florida-based Fidelity Information Services, estimates that by 2022 digital wallet usage will account for 28 per cent of all transactions. 
It also expects cash to constitute just 17 per cent of global payments in three years' time.
This would mean over 1.5billion users spending an average of $1,128.60 a year each this way by 2022, according to Statista.
While these are lofty predictions, they do appear borne out by trends highlighting the growth in the use of eWallet apps over the last few years. 
In 2015, just $20million was spent using Android, Apple and Samsung Pay. Two years later that boomed to $144million, with Apple Pay alone accounting for $86million worth of global transactions in 2017.







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