The service was launched exclusively to Windows 10 Mobile in conjunction with an update to Microsoft's Wallet app.

Microsoft's mobile operating system had previously supported contactless payments for NFC-equipped handsets as early as 2012 in Windows Phone 8 and the original Wallet app.

Additionally, in the United States, mobile carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon required use of their joint-venture developed platform, Softcard, to process the payments.

When Softcard was purchased (and subsequently shut down) by Google in early 2015, it left the Windows platform without a viable contactless payment system in the United States.

The platform allowed Microsoft to coordinate directly with financial institutions and credit card issuers to make contactless payments on Windows-based smartphones, beginning in the United States.