In many countries, paying for things using mobile phones apps is becoming increasingly common. Does this development have more advantages than disadvantages?

The usage of mobile phone

apps

for

payments

has become incredibly common in a lot of countries.

Although

there are minor

privacy

concerns related to

this

technology, it is extremely convenient and time-efficient. In my opinion, the benefits of app-based

payments

are far greater than the drawbacks. Inarguably, the greatest advantage of paying through

third

-party

apps

is convenience.

In other words

, not only can people shop at supermarkets and pay for online purchases but can

also

use

this

application to pay for transport and even for paying street vendors. Basically,

this

makes carrying cash around absolutely redundant. Individuals

also

use these

apps

to pay for overseas purchases whereby the disbursement is done immediately, and an enormous amount of time is saved for the transaction which would have

otherwise

taken days to complete, sometimes even weeks.

For example

, PayPal is a

third

-party app

that is

widely used now to make

payments

at a variety of platforms including international ones,

consequently

making for an enhanced purchase experience. It is,

therefore

, these critical factors of convenience and time-effectiveness that make

payments

through mobile-based

apps

so popular. Contrarily,

this

technological breakthrough is not without its flaws. The biggest and perhaps the only one being the invasion of

privacy

. By sharing personal information with these

third

-party

apps

, people are more susceptible to cyber crimes wherein sophisticated algorithms could be used by governments and other agencies to track and surveil them. To illustrate, it was reported that China extensively uses multiple mobile-based payment applications to check the unusual spending patterns of its citizens.

Thus

,

privacy

concern is the main drawback of

this

technology. In conclusion, paying for products via mobile applications is becoming increasingly widespread in a lot of nations. While breach of

privacy

is an obvious disadvantage of

this

system, a convenient and time-saving interface make it exceedingly beneficial. In my view, the pros of digital payment methods ultimately outweigh their cons.