What is Samsung Pay, how does it work, and which banks support it?
Samsung Pay is similar to Apple Pay and Google Pay. It is a platform for Samsung devices – smartphones and wearables – that allows you to pay for goods and services by tapping your Samsung device near a contactless payment terminal or authorising an online payment, rather than using cash or credit cards.
Here’s everything you need to know, including what banks are supported and how it works.
What do I need for Samsung Pay?
The Samsung Pay platform is baked into Samsung Galaxy devices, which includes the company’s smartphones and wearables. You can find the full list of compatible devices below.
To use Samsung Pay, you’ll need to download and install the Samsung Pay app on your compatible phone, register compatible cards and accounts and the platform will draw directly from these chosen sources when making a payment.
What devices are compatible with Samsung Pay?
Below is a list of the Samsung smartphones that support Samsung Pay.
Galaxy FoldGalaxy Z FlipGalaxy S21 FEGalaxy S21 UltraGalaxy S21+Galaxy S21Galaxy S20Galaxy S20+Galaxy S20 UltraGalaxy Note 20Galaxy Note 20 UltraGalaxy A70sGalaxy A71Galaxy A51Galaxy Note 10Galaxy Note 10+Galaxy A70Galaxy A80Galaxy A30sGalaxy A50sGalaxy S10+Galaxy S10Galaxy S10EGalaxy A70Galaxy Note 9Galaxy S9+Galaxy S9Galaxy Note 8Galaxy S8+Galaxy S8Galaxy S7 edgeGalaxy S7Galaxy S6 edge+Galaxy Note 5Galaxy A8+Galaxy A7 (2017)Galaxy A5 (2017)Galaxy A5 (2016)Galaxy A7 (2016)Galaxy A9 ProGalaxy J7 Pro
This is the current list of Samsung wearables that support Samsung Pay:
Gear S2Gear S3Gear SportGalaxy WatchGalaxy Watch ActiveGalaxy Watch Active2 40mmGalaxy Watch Active2 44mmGalaxy Watch3 42mmGalaxy Watch3 45mm
How does Samsung Pay work?
When using a phone: by swiping up from the bottom of the display, the Samsung Pay app will launch and your default card will appear along with a message to authenticate a payment with your PIN, fingerprint, or iris scanner on compatible devices. You can also launch Samsung Pay by opening the app.
If a different card is needed, a simple left or right swipe will bring up others stored in your phone. The last card you used will automatically appear as the default card the next time you open the app but you can change this in settings.
Once the payment has been biometrically authorised, the phone tells you to tap it onto the contactless payment reader and bingo, a payment is made via NFC (near field communication).
When using a smartwatch: From any compatible Samsung Galaxy smartwatch screen, press and hold the Back key. The last used card will be shown and the smartwatch is then ready to make a payment. Tap the “Pay” button on-screen to Pay and hold your wrist to the contactless payment reader.
Samsung Pay: More than NFC
Samsung Pay offers more than just NFC in some regions – such as the US – by also offering a mobile wallet technology called MST (Magnetic Strip Technology), which it acquired when it bought LoopPay.
MST allows a contactless payment to be made with terminals that do not feature NFC readers (mostly outside the UK), which opens up a lot more retailers to the payment tech.
It can also send the payment information to conventional terminals in stores that have the old-fashioned magnetic strip instead.
A two-step payment process works like so: LoopPay’s app manages and securely stores all your payment cards (including credit, debit, loyalty, and gift cards) on a mobile device, while the LoopPay device (LoopPay Fob, ChargeCase, Card, or CardCase) processes your payment at the checkout as if you had swiped your card like usual.
There is no danger of paying twice as the phone will prioritise an NFC signal if it finds one, while MST is passive and will only be utilised if no other contactless payment signal is found first.
What banks are compatible with Samsung Pay?
These are a few of the compatible banks and services supported by Samsung Pay in the US:
VisaMastercardAmerican ExpressJP Morgan ChaseBank of AmericaCitiUS BankPNC Chase
Click here for a long list of additional providers in the US.
These are a few of the compatible banks and services supported by Samsung Pay in the UK:
American ExpressDanske BankSantanderMBNANationwideHSBCFirst DirectM&S Bank Co-op BankStarling BankJohn Lewis Finance
Click here for the full list of providers in the UK.
What are the payment limits on Samsung Pay?
The payment limit is set by the bank or vendor, not by Samsung, so is different in different regions – not a fixed £100 maximum per transaction, as with contactless cards.
On the whole though, you will not be restricted to a specific limit in the UK, just like you aren’t with Apple Pay.
How secure is Samsung Pay?
In terms of security, Samsung Pay details are protected by Samsung’s Knox real-time hacking surveillance and rooting prevention, and no card details are stored on either a Samsung server or the device itself.
Just like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay uses tokenisation. Card payments are made secure by creating a number or token that replaces your card details. This token is stored within a secure element chip on your device, and when a payment is initiated, the token is passed to the retailer or merchant. The retailer therefore never has direct access to your card details.
In addition, Samsung Pay offers ARM TrustZone to further protect transaction information from attacks.
