A service that connects your app to banks and card networks to accept online payments securely and move funds to your account.
A payment gateway is the middleman between your store and the banking world. When a customer pays, the gateway securely receives the card or wallet details, communicates with the issuing bank and card network, and returns the result: approved or declined. Funds are then settled to your bank account on the agreed schedule.
Your gateway choice determines which payment methods customers can use, such as mada, Apple Pay and international cards, and affects approval rates, fees and settlement speed. In the Gulf, supporting local methods is not optional. See payments in Fanann and the local payments guide. Practical tip: never store card details in your app; let the gateway handle them. Confirm payments via webhooks, not just the return page, and test every payment method in test mode before launch.