How mPOS works
The merchant installs the provider's app and pairs a reader with the phone. The reader holds the secure parts: it reads the chip or the contactless card, encrypts the card data and, on models with a keypad, takes the PIN. The phone supplies the screen, the connection and the software around the sale.
The app sends the encrypted data to the provider's gateway and on to the acquirer. Receipts go out by email or text message, and sales appear in a dashboard.
How Mastercard defines mPOS
The Mastercard Rules of 2 June 2026 define an MPOS terminal as one that enables a mobile device to be used as a POS terminal. The card reading may sit in the mobile device itself, on a server, or in a separate accessory connected by Bluetooth or USB, so the definition covers reader-based mPOS and software-only acceptance alike.
Mastercard's Transaction Processing Rules of 9 June 2026 have acquirers identify each such payment with cardholder-activated terminal level 9, for an MPOS acceptance device.
Who uses mPOS
Sole traders, market stalls, delivery drivers and field services, and larger shops that take payment in the aisle. Providers are typically payment facilitators, which sign a merchant up quickly and ship a low-cost reader. SoftPOS removes the reader for contactless payments, and a reader is still what reads a chip card that has to be inserted.
mPOS, SoftPOS or a card terminal?
- SoftPOS
- No reader: the phone's own NFC reads the card, so acceptance is contactless only.
- Card terminal
- A dedicated device with its own screen, keypad, card readers and connection, built only for taking payments.
Where mPOS shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- Card acquiringCard acceptance on the phone, in store and online, through the acquirer you choose.
- Merchant onboardingBusiness sign-up, verification and underwriting, from application to first payment.
- BackofficeOne console to run the platform: customers, money, risk, content and staff permissions.
Platforms that need it
Guides that go deeper
Where it is written
The laws and standards this page's facts come from.
- Mastercard Rules, 2 June 2026: definitions, Mobile POS (MPOS) Terminal (Mastercard)
- Mastercard Transaction Processing Rules, 9 June 2026: Appendix D, CAT Level 9 (Mastercard)
General information, not legal advice: what applies to you depends on your services and your market.