PayByPhone Parking
Park. Pay. Be on your way.
by PayByPhone Technologies Inc.
About this app
PayByPhone makes paying for parking simple and stress-free. Just enter the location number, set your time, and pay. Get reminders before your session expires and extend from anywhere. Used in over 1,000 cities worldwide, PayByPhone is trusted by millions of drivers for on-street and off-street parking payments. No more running back to feed the meter. Key features: - Pay for on-street and off-street parking by phone - Extend your session remotely - Receive expiry reminders via push notification - View parking history and receipts - Save multiple vehicles and payment methods - Quick-start for repeat parking locations - Business accounts for fleet management - Apple Pay and Google Pay supported - Available in the US, Canada, UK, France, and more
Key Features
Pay at 1,000+ Cities
PayByPhone is accepted in over 1,000 cities across North America and Europe. Look for PayByPhone signage on meters or signs, enter the location number, and pay directly in the app.
Expiry Reminders
Get push notifications before your parking session is about to expire. Extend right from the notification without opening the app. Never get a ticket because you lost track of time.
Remote Extension
Stuck in a meeting? Extend your parking session from anywhere. No need to walk back to the meter. PayByPhone adds time to your active session and updates enforcement systems instantly.
Quick-Start Parking
The app remembers your frequent locations. Tap once to start a session at a saved location with your default vehicle and payment method. Ideal for daily commuters.
Business & Fleet Accounts
Manage parking for your entire team. Assign vehicles, set spending caps, and download expense reports. Integrates with popular fleet management and expense tools.
Digital Receipts
Full transaction history with downloadable receipts. Filter by date, location, or vehicle. Export to CSV for accounting or expense reporting.
How It Works
Find the Location Number
Look for PayByPhone signage on the meter, pay station, or nearby signs. Each parking zone has a unique location number. The app also shows your nearby zones on a map.
Enter Location & Set Time
Open the app, enter the location number, choose your vehicle, and set your desired duration. The app shows the rate and total cost before you confirm.
Pay & Park
Confirm payment and your session starts immediately. Enforcement can verify your payment digitally. You'll receive an alert before your time expires.
Detailed Review
PayByPhone has been in the mobile parking business since 2001, making it one of the oldest players in the space. Now owned by Volkswagen Financial Services, it serves millions of users across North America and Europe with a focused proposition: simple, reliable parking meter payments.
The app's strength is its simplicity. There's no feature bloat here. You open the app, enter a location number, set your time, and pay. The interface is clean and functional, though it lacks the visual polish of ParkMobile's 2026 redesign or EasyPark's spinning wheel. For drivers who just want to pay and move on, this directness is actually an advantage.
PayByPhone's coverage spans over 1,000 cities, with particularly strong presence in Canadian cities (it was founded in Vancouver), the UK (it's the dominant parking app in London), and select US markets including Washington DC, Miami, and parts of California. If you drive in London, PayByPhone is effectively mandatory for on-street parking.
The expiry reminder system is where PayByPhone truly excels. Notifications are timely, reliable, and actionable. You can extend your session directly from the notification banner without opening the app. For anyone who has ever gotten a parking ticket because they lost track of time, this feature alone justifies installing the app.
The Quick-Start feature recognizes your frequent parking locations and lets you start a session with a single tap using your saved vehicle and payment method. If you park at the same spot every day for work, Quick-Start turns a 30-second process into a 3-second one.
Business accounts are well-implemented. Fleet managers can add employees, assign vehicles, set spending limits per person or per month, and pull detailed reports. The system integrates with popular expense management tools, which is a genuine time-saver for companies with mobile workers.
On the downside, PayByPhone is strictly an on-demand payment tool. There's no reservation system for garages or airport parking, no EV charging, and no CameraPark-style automation. The UI, while functional, shows its age compared to competitors. The map-based zone finder works but isn't as refined as ParkMobile's GPS-accurate zone boundaries.
Transaction fees are a reality of all parking apps, but PayByPhone doesn't offer a subscription to eliminate them like ParkMobile Go does. For frequent parkers, those $0.25-$0.45 fees per session add up over a month.
Overall, PayByPhone is a dependable choice for meter parking, especially in cities where it's the primary mobile payment provider. It's not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focused approach has its merits.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Our Verdict
PayByPhone is a solid, no-frills parking payment app that does one thing well: paying for meter and zone parking. It's especially strong in cities where it's the designated mobile payment provider. While it lacks the reservation features of SpotHero or the flashy design of ParkMobile, its reliability and simplicity make it a dependable choice for daily parking.