A device account number is the unique string of digits your phone or smartwatch uses in place of your real card number when you pay through a digital wallet like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, or Samsung Wallet. Each device that holds the same card gets its own separate number, so your actual sixteen-digit card details never reach the merchant.
What a Device Account Number Is
When you load a credit or debit card into a mobile wallet, the card network and your bank generate a substitute number, sometimes called a token or virtual account number, that stands in for the number printed on your physical card. This substitute is tied to the specific piece of hardware you registered the card on. Add the same Visa to your phone and your smartwatch, and each device receives a different device account number.
The industry term for this substitution is payment tokenization. EMVCo, which sets global standards for chip-based and digital payments, defines it as replacing a primary account number with a unique alternative that can be restricted to a single device, merchant, or transaction type.1EMVCo. EMV Payment Tokenisation: What, Why and How Your bank and the card network keep a secure mapping between the token and your real account number, but the token itself cannot be reverse-engineered to reveal your card details.
Because the number is hardware-specific, it isolates your credentials. If a merchant’s system is breached, attackers only capture the token, and that token is useless on any other device or with any other merchant. Your underlying card number stays on the bank’s secure servers.
How to Find Your Device Account Number
Digital wallets display only the last four digits. That’s enough to match a purchase on a receipt or confirm which identifier was used at checkout.
Apple Wallet on iPhone
Open the Wallet app and tap the card you want to check. Tap the Card Number button to see the last four digits of the device account number, which is the number transmitted to the merchant when you use Apple Pay.2Apple. Set Up Apple Pay in Wallet on iPhone For more information, tap the More button and then Card Details. The physical card number and the device account number appear separately, so it’s easy to tell them apart.
Google Wallet on Android
Open the Google Wallet app and tap the payment card at the top of the screen. You may need to swipe left to find it. At the bottom, tap Details, then Virtual account number. The last four digits shown there are your device account number for that card on that specific Android phone.3Google Wallet Help. Where’s My Virtual Card Number for My Credit Card in Google Pay?
Samsung Wallet
Open the Samsung Wallet app, scroll to the card you want, and verify your identity with a fingerprint or PIN. The virtual account number, which is Samsung’s term for the device account number, appears in the card details. Only the last four digits are visible.
What the Number Does During a Purchase
When you hold your phone near a payment terminal, the device communicates over Near Field Communication (NFC). Instead of sending your real card number, it transmits two things: the device account number and a one-time security code, called a cryptogram, generated for that specific transaction. The card network recognizes the token, maps it back to your real account, and routes the charge to your bank for approval.1EMVCo. EMV Payment Tokenisation: What, Why and How
The merchant never sees your actual card number, only the device account number and a transaction ID. Because the cryptogram changes with every purchase, data intercepted from a previous transaction cannot be reused for a fraudulent charge.
Why Refunds Can Depend on the Same Device
Because the merchant’s system recorded the device account number rather than your physical card number, refunds have to match that same token. Apple’s guidance notes that merchants “might use the Apple Pay card number of your payment card in Wallet, instead of the debit or credit card number from your physical card.”4Apple. Get a Refund for Purchases Made With Credit or Debit Cards Using Apple Pay
In practice, that means bringing the same device you used for the original purchase when you return an item. Some merchants ask for the last four digits of your digital wallet card number; others can look up the transaction without it.4Apple. Get a Refund for Purchases Made With Credit or Debit Cards Using Apple Pay If you present your physical card instead of tapping your device, the numbers won’t match, which can delay the refund or force a manual process. If the original device is no longer accessible because it was lost, traded in, or reset, tell the merchant so they can look up the transaction by date, amount, or receipt number.
When Your Physical Card Is Replaced
When your bank issues a replacement card with a new number or expiration date, the token service provider usually updates the link automatically. The card network keeps the device account number mapped to your account, and your digital wallet keeps working without requiring you to remove and re-add the card. You can often keep tapping to pay even before your replacement plastic arrives.
If the update doesn’t happen automatically, your wallet app will prompt you to verify the new card details or re-add the card. In that case, the device receives a new device account number tied to the replacement card.
When You Upgrade to a New Phone
The device account number from your old phone does not carry over. Each device receives its own token when a card is added, so your new phone will be assigned a fresh number for every card you register. This is true even when you restore from a backup, because payment tokens are hardware-bound.
Before trading in or resetting your old phone, remove your payment cards from the wallet app on that device. Skipping that step can cause conflicts when you add the same card on the new phone, such as an error saying the card is already linked to another device. If that happens, remove the card through your wallet provider’s website or ask your bank to release the old token.
Any pending refunds tied to the old device account number will still reach your bank account, because the bank maps both the old and new tokens back to the same underlying card.
If Your Phone Is Lost or Stolen
Because your real card number is never stored on the device, a thief cannot extract it from your phone. Both major platforms also let you suspend or remove payment cards remotely.
Apple Devices
Sign in to iCloud.com/find or use the Find My app on another Apple device, and put the missing device in Lost Mode. Apple suspends payment cards and other services on that device immediately.5Apple Support. Use Lost Mode in Find Devices on iCloud.com If you get the device back, turn off Lost Mode and sign back in; your cards become usable again without needing to re-add them. Only the device-specific tokens are suspended, so your physical card is unaffected.
Android Devices
Use Google’s Find Hub (previously Find My Device) to select the lost phone and choose “Secure device.” That locks the phone and can also remove credit or debit cards from Google Wallet.6Android. What You Should Do if You Lose Your Phone As with Apple, suspending the device account number does not cancel or freeze your underlying bank account or physical card.
Contact your bank as well. The token is isolated from your real card number, but reporting the loss puts extra monitoring on your account.