NFC stands for Near-Field Communication and is the technology that powers actions such as turning on a light when your phone is in range with it. Unfortunately, Android Pay is only available to U.S. users as of right now. Multiple Google+ users and Android Police readers have noticed a new and more compact display of the five-star rating system for app and game listings on the home page and in searches, replacing the full five-star graphic with a single icon and a numerical value.

Google won’t receive any type of commission from the operations made with its Android Pay system. It works similarly like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay in the sense of allowing users to make payments at point-of-sale using NFC technology on their mobile devices.

Some shops that can now accept Android Pay include the following: ACME, Aeropostale, America Eagle Outfitters, AT&T, Bloomingdales, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Express, Foot Locker, GameStop, jetBlue, Jamba Juice, LEGO, Macy’s, McDonald’s, Nike, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Staples, Subway, Toys ‘R U.S. , Verizon, Walt Disney World, and Whole Foods. Its advantage over Apple Pay is that, given Android’s variety of hardware, Android Pay has the potential to be on a wider number of devices while Apple Pay is limited to the recent NFC-equipped iPhone 6 and later generations. Users can not pay at stores with every virtual card like the old Google Wallet service. Moreover, this new update also rolls out the scrolling app drawer that targets the Google Now Launcher.

Mashable reports that the company is still planning to re-launch Google Wallet with exclusively for peer-to-peer payments. [Image Credit: TheVerge.com]In addition to working at touch-free terminals, Android Pay also works within apps, meaning you can buy nearly anything in one or two clicks. The app itself seems to provide a more practical way to make wireless payments.

As of how secure the service will be, Google has a new software update, Android Marshmellow, that will come with native support for fingerprint recognition.