Samsung Pay has been officially released also in Italy: since March 22, 2018 it is available for all users who have a Samsung smartphone or smartwatch supported by the service. With Samsung Pay, people will be able to make payments in stores by simply bringing their smartphone close to the POS (the device where you usually insert your credit card or ATM).
The operation is very similar to that of Apple Pay, a service developed by the Cupertino company, which allows you to pay with your iPhone. But Samsung’s service is more comprehensive and supports more credit cards. Samsung has also thought about the security of its users’ data and has developed as many as three systems to protect personal information: before making the payment, the user will have to give confirmation through their personal fingerprint, iris scan or PIN; tokenization of credit card data; protection through Samsung Knox.
What is Samsung Pay
Samsung Pay is a free service, compatible with some of the South Korean company’s smartphones, which allows you to pay for groceries or in-store purchases directly from your cell phone. Just bring your device close to the POS and the payment will happen (almost) automatically. The service uses two different technologies to communicate with the POS: the MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) method, i.e. the one used by some POS readers to read the magnetic stripe of a card, and NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, used for payments with contactless cards. Thanks to the support of these two technologies, it will be possible to use Samsung Pay on all POS in Italy.
How to use Samsung Pay
Activating Samsung Pay is really very simple. First, you need to download the application from the Google Play Store and register to the service through your Samsung account. At this point you can add a credit card: just frame it with the camera of your smartphone. Once this step is complete, you can start using the service to pay for groceries or purchases directly at the store.
Samsung Pay also supports some smartwatch models made by the South Korean company. To activate the service you have to install the latest version of the operating system available for the smartwatch, open the Samsung Gear app and select Samsung Pay. At this point you will have to add your credit card information and follow the instructions to complete the service activation.
Security First
To ensure the security of user data, Samsung Pay uses three different levels of security. Before making a payment, the user is asked for confirmation by entering a PIN, their fingerprint or iris scan. The data, on the other hand, is saved within a token, so that it is not present within the smartphone’s memory. In addition, the data will also be protected by Samsung Knox, the dedicated security service.
What credit cards are supported
Samsung says that more than 60 percent of credit cards used in Italy are supported by Samsung Pay. This is possible thanks to the agreements signed by the South Korean company with all the most important credit institutions present in Italy (Banca Mediolanum, BNL, Che Banca, Hello Bank, Intesa San Paolo, Unicredit and Nexi). Samsung, in fact, does not ask for any percentage on transactions made by users and this has made it easier to sign agreements with banking institutions.
Which devices are compatible with Samsung Pay
Only some smartphone models can use Samsung Pay: Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S8 and S8+, Galaxy A8, Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy S7, Galaxy A5 2017 and Galaxy A5 2016. Among the supported devices are also two smartwatches: the Gear S3 classic/frontier and the Gear Sport, but the latter only works with NFC technology.