Huawei is rolling out a long-awaited function for its smartwatches in Europe: Through a partnership with the FinTech company Curve, contactless payment via NFC is now possible directly from the wrist. The Chinese manufacturer is thus closing a gap that users had been complaining about for some time despite the presence of an NFC chip in the watches.
Contactless payment with Huawei Smartwatch: Curve Pay replaces Quicko
The background to the innovation is the end of the previous payment service provider Quicko. The Polish Financial Supervision Authority withdrew the company’s license in January 2026, which meant that NFC payments via the Quicko Wallet on Huawei watches no longer worked from one day to the next. Quicko did not have the best reputation as a prepaid solution anyway – users had to top up credit and additional fees were charged for each top-up.
With Curve Pay, Huawei now offers a much more flexible alternative. The service was first introduced with the Huawei Watch GT Runner 2 and then extended to the entire smartwatch portfolio in Europe.
These Huawei watches support Curve Pay
According to Huawei’s official announcement, the following models are currently compatible with Curve Pay:
| Model | Curve Pay available |
|---|---|
| Huawei Watch Ultimate 2 | Yes |
| Huawei Watch GT 6 / GT 6 Pro | Yes |
| Huawei Watch GT 5 / GT 5 Pro | Yes |
| Huawei Watch GT Runner 2 | Yes |
| Huawei Watch 5 | Yes |
| Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro | Yes |
Huawei has announced that it will extend availability to other models in its portfolio. Users of the Watch D2, for example, hope that their watch will also be supported in the near future.
What is Curve Pay and how does it work?
Curve is a British FinTech company that acts as a digital wallet. The highlight: users can bundle several existing Visa and Mastercard cards in a single app. Unlike Quicko, there is no need to top up credit – instead, payments are processed directly via the stored cards. This works wherever Mastercard is accepted.
The set-up process takes just a few steps:
- Install the Curve app on your smartphone (available in the Huawei AppGallery, in the App Store or on Google Play)
- Create an account and add a credit or debit card
- Install the Curve app on the smartwatch via the watch’s AppGallery
- Add the watch in the Curve app on the smartphone under “Wearables”
- Set Curve as the default payment app on the watch and set up the screen lock
Once set up, simply hold the watch up to a contactless payment terminal. The process only takes a few seconds.
Advantages over the previous solution
Compared to the previous Quicko solution, Curve Pay offers a number of tangible improvements. First of all, there is no need to top up prepaid credit. Curve also offers some interesting additional functions: With the “Go Back in Time” function, the payment card used can be changed retrospectively up to 120 days after a purchase. There is also an “anti-embarrassment mode” – if a payment is declined due to insufficient funds, Curve automatically switches to a stored replacement card.
Interesting for travelers: Curve avoids hidden currency conversion fees, which saves money when paying abroad. The basic version of Curve can be used free of charge.
Security when paying with the smartwatch
When it comes to security, Huawei relies on several layers of protection. The smartwatches have intelligent wearer recognition: if the watch is removed from the wrist, a passcode must be entered before the next payment. In addition, the actual card data is not transmitted directly to the retailer during the payment process – Curve acts as an intermediate layer. The entire wallet can also be blocked at any time with a single tap via the app.
Conclusion: Huawei closes an important gap
By integrating Curve Pay into its smartwatches, Huawei is solving a problem that has long frustrated many users in Europe. Contactless payment via Huawei watch now finally works reliably and without the restrictions of a prepaid solution. With a market share of around 20 percent in the smartwatch segment, this step was long overdue. Anyone with a compatible Huawei watch can now activate the function via an update.
