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Use PayPal for touch-free purchases in stores. Here's how

The PayPal app can help you pay for things at stores, farmers markets and just about anywhere else using QR codes. We walk you through how to use it.

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Alison DeNisco Rayome Managing Editor
Managing Editor Alison DeNisco Rayome joined CNET in 2019, and is a member of the Home team. She is a co-lead of the CNET Tips and We Do the Math series, and manages the Home Tips series, testing out new hacks for cooking, cleaning and tinkering with all of the gadgets and appliances in your house. Alison was previously an editor at TechRepublic.
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Alison DeNisco Rayome
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PayPal allows you to use your phone to make touch-free payments in stores. 

 Angela Lang/CNET

In the midst of the pandemic last year, PayPal added the ability to use the mobile payment app to make touch-free purchases in stores using QR codes. All you have to do is scan the code, either from a printout or on a screen, using your phone's camera -- no cards, cash or signatures needed.

The app works two ways: You can scan items' QR codes to pay through the app. Or stores like CVS and Walmart can scan your app's QR code under Show to Pay to purchase things in the store as well. 

Check out our video below for a step-by-step guide for setting up and using PayPal's mobile payments option.