The long wait for the ability to pay for stuff in the UK via a combination of an Android phone, Vodafone connection and PayPal account is finally over.

The UK has finally emerged from the digital dark ages with the news that you can pay for things with merely a tap of your phone. Of course you could already do this with Apple Pay, Google Pay Oyster and countless contactless debit and credit cards, but nobody cared until Vodafone got together with PayPal.

Vodafone Pay already existed but users had to put up with that great first world problem of our time that is having to put in a PIN to authorise the payment. We’re just too damn busy for that crap, right? We might as well revert to a system of bartering and subsistence farming. Now, for purchases under £30, you have yet another way of doing them contactlessly.

“Our customers told us that being able to use PayPal when making mobile payments was important to them so we’re delighted to now offer this on Vodafone Pay,” revealed Vodafone UK’s Head of Consumer Services Kate Wright. “The service also works with any Visa and MasterCard credit or debit card offering customers greater choice than any other mobile payment service.”

“Money is going digital, and the smartphone is at the centre of this transformation,” discovered Rob Harper, Director of Mobile Commerce at PayPal UK. “Mobile payments have long been at the heart of what we do. In fact, this year marks 10 years since we first launched a mobile payment service in the UK. As mobile technology continues to evolve, we will continue to look at new ways to make it easier and faster for our customers to pay.”

How far we have come.