QR Ph explained: one code for GCash, Maya and bank apps

QR Ph is the Philippines' national QR code standard for payments. Because every participating bank and e-wallet reads the same format, one QR Ph code at your counter can be paid from GCash, Maya or a bank app, as long as that app supports QR Ph.

It was launched in November 2019 by the payments industry, led by the Philippine Payments Management, Inc. (PPMI), under the guidance of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. BSP Circular No. 1055 requires participating banks and e-money issuers to adopt it, and the format follows the global EMVCo standard for secure payments (BSP FAQs on QR Ph for merchants).

QR Ph has no app of its own: customers pay with their own bank or e-wallet app. And since 1 July 2023, the BSP has required providers to disable older proprietary payment QR codes (BSP Memorandum M-2023-005), so payment codes from regulated providers are meant to be QR Ph now.

The BSP describes two uses of QR Ph. You will see the letters on bank pages and in your e-wallet's help center.

• P2P, person to person: transfers between people, like paying back a friend for lunch. It started in November 2019. The receive-money code you generate in a bank or e-wallet app works this way, and the GCash QR code guide covers when to move from a personal QR to a merchant QR.
• P2M, person to merchant: payments to a business, from a supermarket to a sari-sari store, a palengke stall or a tricycle. The full launch was on 12 October 2021. Your provider generates the merchant code, and you print it and display it.
• Static code: the printed one on a standee or a counter sign, used again and again. This is the one to print. The BSP's QR Ph FAQs say a code can be reused if your app did not ask for extra details, such as an amount, when you made it. Maya, for example, offers a static Maya QR for in-store payments (Maya Business).
• Dynamic code: generated on a payment terminal for each sale. Maya's terminals produce these.

The numbers in the BSP's 2025 report on e-payments are big. QR Ph handled 2.47 billion transactions in 2025, up from 174.34 million in 2024. By the end of 2025 there were 48 participating financial institutions and 2.29 million registered merchant IDs, and the BSP credits wider onboarding of micro, small and medium businesses for part of the growth.

Those numbers also mean your customers have their phones out at the counter, so the payment code is the best spot for a Google review QR beside it. Ask everyone and offer nothing in return; how to ask customers for Google reviews has the rules.

For you, interoperability comes down to three practical things, all from the BSP's own description of QR Ph:

• One code for everyone. You don't need a GCash code, a Maya code and a bank code taped side by side.
• You never give out your account number, and the money goes to the right account because the customer scans instead of typing digits.
• Less hunting for coins. The customer pays the exact amount, so there is no change to give back.

A QR Ph code carries the QR Ph logo, the national QR standard mark, on or beside the code. Banks and e-wallets tell their customers to look for it: Coins.ph's QR Ph guide, for example, says you can pay at any store displaying the official QR Ph logo. To check your own code:

• Look for the logo on the code, on the standee, or on the screen where your app shows the code.
• Test it with a different app. If your code came from GCash, ask a friend with Maya or a bank app to scan it, without sending money. If their app reads it and shows your name, it works across apps.
• If it only works in one app, ask your provider. Since 2023 the BSP has required providers to have their merchants display and use QR Ph codes.
• Say it on your sign: "Scan with GCash, Maya or any QR Ph bank app." The counter sign maker has a QR Ph wording option.

Through your bank, e-wallet or payment provider. The BSP's answer is exactly that: merchants who want QR Ph payments ask their bank or e-money issuer. As of October 2026, the main routes look like this:

• GCash: through GCash for Business. The portal can generate a Digital QR for each branch, and in-store products such as SoundPay accept payments through static QR Ph codes (GCash help).
• Maya: through Maya Business. You register on Maya Business Manager and apply for Maya QR, a static code for in-store payments, or a Maya Terminal (Maya QR Ph page).
• Your bank: ask at your branch or in its business app whether it offers QR Ph for merchants.
• Palengke vendors and tricycle drivers: in LGUs that run the BSP and DILG's Paleng-QR Ph program, providers set up booths on account opening days and hand out QR code printouts. As of 31 August 2026 the program covered 1,588 participating or enjoined LGUs (BSP).

For your customers, paying a shop is free. The BSP's FAQs on QR Ph for merchants say a customer who uses QR Ph to pay for goods and services does not pay any fee for it. That is for merchant codes. If your shop uses a personal QR, a customer paying from a different bank or e-wallet is making a transfer, and their app may charge them a transfer fee (BSP FAQs on QR Ph for person-to-person payments).

For you, it depends on your provider. The same FAQs say banks and e-money issuers may charge merchants a fee for the service. Providers set their own rates and they change, so check the current rate with yours before you sign up, in your merchant dashboard or on pages like GCash's merchant rate page.

Not one you can use on your own. A QR Ph code that pays you has to come from the provider that holds your account, because the code carries that account's details in the QR Ph format. The BSP puts it simply: merchants print the QR code their payment service provider generates for them.

A free QR generator website does something else. It turns any text or link into a QR picture. It cannot open an account, so it cannot send a single peso to you. If a site calls itself a "QR Ph generator" and asks for your e-wallet login, MPIN or OTP, close it.

Payment gateways that offer QR Ph to online sellers are providers too: you open a merchant account with them first. What you can make yourself is the sign around the code. Put your QR on a printable counter sign, and for the codes you can make, like Wi-Fi or your menu, see how to make a QR code.

The BSP calls QR Ph a quick and safe way to pay; the risks come from people. Check the name on screen, feel for stickers over your code every morning, and confirm each payment in your own app; the GCash QR code guide has the full counter checklist. Two more habits:

• Get the amount right before they send. The BSP's QR Ph FAQs say transactions are final and irrevocable: if a customer sends too little, they send the rest; if they send too much, you return the excess with another transfer.
• Never give your MPIN or OTP to anyone who offers to "activate" or "upgrade" your QR.