Don’t want to use Google Pay? Samsung has its own digital wallet app
Samsung Wallet is a hybrid of two existing apps: Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass. This all-in-one app allows you to pay in multiple ways and store sensitive information. But how does it work?
If your Galaxy smartphone is compatible with Samsung Pay (Android 9 or above, not available on iOS), you can use Samsung Wallet.
Samsung has many plans that make this more exciting than a run-of-the-mill app. It has massive implications for the future of your identification, payments and more.
How to get Samsung Wallet
If you have a compatible Galaxy phone, you can download it now if you’re located in any of the six countries where Samsung Wallet has officially rolled out. Those countries are the U.S., U.K., Spain, Italy, France and Germany.
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This isn’t rolling out on the Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store, as you might imagine. Samsung has its marketplace called the Galaxy Store, where you can exclusively download Samsung Wallet.
According to its news post, availability may be limited depending on your phone model. Samsung rolled out the software update for Samsung Wallet on June 16 in most markets and on June 17 in Germany.
You can download it on the Galaxy Store and test it for yourself.
How Samsung Wallet works
Samsung Wallet works by aggregating your payment details, cryptocurrency wallets and even house access keys.
Because it combines Samsung Pay, Pass and some SmartThings into one place, you can hold membership cards and other passcodes. Within a year of Samsung Wallet’s release, there are plans to include student ID and driver’s license support.
Samsung also introduced a unique partnership. Korean Air will allow you to store boarding passes digitally, presumably as a test, before launching this feature globally with more companies.
It certainly paints a fascinating picture of what Samsung Wallet will be able to do in the future.
Is Samsung Wallet better than Google Pay?
Google Pay is still an excellent service with great benefits, but Samsung has one trick up its sleeve, putting it ahead of Google for a crucial reason: security.
Samsung created Knox, which it described as a platform that “…ensures that confidential and sensitive data stays safe, no matter where your life takes you.”
To be fair, Google Pay also has excellent security, including fraud alerts and secure payment information, but Knox is just one notch above.
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Tags: Android, Apple, boarding passes, cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency wallets, digital wallet, Google, Google Pay, Google Play Store, identification, payment, payments, Samsung, Samsung Pay, security