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Android Pay automatically adds Walgreen loyalty points

It's the first retail store with full Android Pay NFC integration.

Despite Android Pay's promise of simplicity, getting loyalty points is still a small hassle -- you either have to carry the store's card or have the cashier scan it from your phone. Walgreens has revealed that it's the first retailer to integrate rewards points directly with Google's payment system. All you need to do is place your phone near the payment terminal to scan in your card, then tap it again to actually pay. "Walgreens customers can speed through the entire checkout process in as few as two taps with their Android phones," says Google Senior Director Pali Bhat.

While other stores let you manage your loyalty cards within Android Pay, Walgreens is the first to support it via NFC. The pharmacy-slash-retailer has been progressive with contactless payments, having accepted Apple Pay at a time when its rivals refused to do so. The loyalty card support should speed checkout times even more, as scanning it manually adds about 20 seconds to the process. Now, if they could just get it down to one tap, all of our first-world payment issues will be sorted.