The v0.1 Android app will give users the chance to secure their place in the Curve queue ahead of the full Android release later in the year, and will also allow them to help build the app itself by giving them exclusive early access to features. All users need to do is download Curve from the Play Store and register an account.

The Curve card (fully released on iOS) works like Apple Pay, but with a card. It allows you to combine all your cards into one, cuts your bank’s high foreign exchange charges, and gives you clarity over your spend across all your accounts and bank cards, in real-time. Curve provides a mobile technology layer on top of your existing financial services - this comes after the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) recent claim that banks should embrace technology in banking in order to promote and welcome competition.

Curve’s Android app will offer an alternative to Android Pay and Samsung Pay - adoption rates of mobile technologies on Android devices still stand at low numbers; around 12% of eligible users were recorded as using Android Pay technology according to a study by Phoenix Marketing International earlier in 2016.

“Cards are the preferred way to pay for millions of consumers” states Richard Koch, Head of Policy at The UK Cards Association. “With payment cards being used more than ever, we expect these trends to continue.”

With a 7.9% annual growth rate in card-based spending, Curve aims to further bridge the gap between traditional card payments and mobile payments with the full Android app later this year.