Mobile Payments on the Rise, Cash Decline Slows
Consumers are increasingly relying on their mobile phones for payments, replacing traditional bank cards. According to an annual report by UK Finance, two-thirds of UK adults were registered with at least one mobile payment service in 2025.
Use of mobile payments has surged in recent years, marking a decade since Apple Pay’s UK launch. While cash use continues to decline, the report suggests this drop is slowing, indicating that notes and coins will remain a preferred payment method for many in the next decade.
Consumers are adopting digital payment methods, storing card details on phones or watches and utilizing contactless payments secured by facial or fingerprint recognition. Nine out of ten mobile wallet users have their default payment method set to their debit card, with the rest using their credit card.
"The UK is now a predominantly digital economy when it comes to making and receiving payments," said Adrian Buckle, head of research at UK Finance.
Payment Trends:
- Debit cards, including those loaded on phones, dominated payments in 2025, accounting for 54% of all transactions.
- Contactless payments made up 39% of payments.
- Cheques, once scheduled for phase-out by 2018, have dwindled to a mere 0.2% of payments, with 77 million written in 2025.
Future of Cash:
While cash is expected to become less prevalent, notes and coins are forecast to remain a significant part of payments, decreasing from 8% in 2025 to 4% in 2035.
"Rather than the UK becoming a cash-free society… [it] will transition to an economy where cash is less important but still preferred by some," the report noted.
With nearly 50 million cash machine withdrawals in 2025, Nick Quin from Link, the UK’s ATM network, confirmed the ongoing preference for cash despite the shift towards digital payments.
