One of the great things about smartphones is that the software is always changing, with features being added and improved on a regular basis, and so it is with Samsung phonesbecause they now have access to a Samsung Wallet app.
This new app is essentially a combination of the old Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass apps, but with a few new features, and with Samsung Blockchain Wallet integration for good measure.
From the Samsung Wallet app you can store payment cards (to pay contactless) and also store loyalty and membership cards. But you can also use it as a password manager to store and access your passwords, and if you own cryptocurrencies, you can use Samsung Wallet to check their value on various exchanges.
Other documents such as COVID-19 vaccination data can also be stored in Samsung Wallet, as can boarding passes, although airlines must opt for this, and at this point it sounds like only Korean Air has done that.
And thanks to SmartThings integration, Samsung Wallet can also be used to store digital home and car keys. The company has so far partnered with nine home security companies, as well as BMW, Genesis and Hyundai, although only select cars are supported. Over time, Samsung also expects to register more car brands.
Samsung is also aiming to support things like driver licenses and student IDs within Wallet from later this year.
Of course, with all this important information in Samsung Wallet, it needs some serious security, and for that, Samsung uses its Knox security platform, which allows Wallet to encrypt data and requires a fingerprint for access. Truly sensitive data can also be stored in an isolated environment to protect against hacking.
If you live in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy or Spain and have a Samsung Pay compatible Galaxy phone running Android 9 or higher, you should now be able to access Samsung Wallet. Just open Samsung Pay or Samsung Pass and you will be prompted to migrate your data to the new service.
If Samsung Wallet’s features look familiar to you, it’s probably because iPhone users have access to a very similar offering in the form of Apple Wallet.
The feature set isn’t identical, but the idea is essentially the same, with Apple Wallet holding payment cards, car keys, boarding passes, loyalty cards, tickets, and more. It even supports driver’s license and state IDs in a few areas, so it’s running ahead of Samsung on that.
Google is also working on a similar idea called — unsurprisingly — Google Wallet, which is likely to launch soon. So if you’re a android phone but no Samsung, then you won’t have to miss out on all this Wallet goodness for long.