Samsung Pay and Samsung Wallet in Switzerland: a guide
With Samsung Pay and Samsung Wallet, you can pay with your smartphone in Switzerland. Comparis explains.
08.10.2024
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1. What are Samsung Pay and Samsung Wallet?
Samsung Pay is a mobile payment service available for smartphones or smartwatches. You enter a credit card, debit card or a prepaid card to use Samsung Pay. Important: the issuer of your card must allow the use of Samsung Pay.
Most Swiss banks support Samsung Pay via credit card. With many banks, you can also use your debit card. You can see whether your bank also supports the mobile payment service in Samsung’s overview (in German).
Difference between Samsung Wallet and Samsung Pay
Since 2022, Samsung Wallet has been available in Switzerland. As the name suggests, it’s a digital wallet. It combines Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass, a password manager. You can store even more data in the wallet than in the separate apps. This includes:
Boarding passes for flights
Vaccination certificates
Membership cards and vouchers
Passwords and addresses
A digital car key
On newer Samsung smartphones, only the wallet is installed as standard. You can only download the Samsung Pay app for your smartwatch.
2. Samsung Pay: what fees apply?
When you pay with Samsung Pay or your Samsung Wallet, you will not be charged any additional fees. You only pay the normal fees of your payment provider.
3. Where can I pay with Samsung Pay?
Samsung Pay can be used in almost all stores where you can pay by card. However, the payment terminal must support contactless payment. In addition, you can now pay with Samsung Pay at some online shops.
Samsung Pay abroad
Whether you can use Samsung Pay abroad depends on your card. If your bank allows you to use it abroad, this also applies to the payment service.
Remember: if you use Samsung Pay abroad, fees for using your card abroad may apply. The amount of the costs also depends on the terms and conditions of your bank.
4. How can I set up Samsung Wallet and Samsung Pay?
To use Samsung Pay and Samsung Wallet, you need a Samsung account. Depending on the provider, you may also need an account for the digital service of your means of payment (e.g. the Viseca “one” app).
Set up your Samsung Wallet
Check if the Samsung Wallet app is installed on your phone. If not, download it. If you can’t download the app, you may need to update your smartphone’s software.
Open the app. Samsung Wallet may then ask you to download the full version. That’s because the pre-installed app is not yet the full version.
You’ll now be shown an introductory video. You can watch this video or skip it.
Sign in with your Samsung account. If you don’t already have one, you can create one now. If you are already logged into your account, a “Start” button will appear.
Read the terms and conditions and tap “Next”.
You can now choose an authentication method. This is usually your fingerprint.
Create a PIN for your Samsung Wallet.
Now you can add a card to your wallet. To do this, you can photograph the card with the app, scan it via NFC or enter the data manually. Follow the instructions in the app.
You can also add bonus cards such as the Supercard or Cumulus card to your Samsung Wallet.
To use Samsung Wallet, you need a Samsung device with at least Android 9.0. Compatible devices include smartphones of the following series
Galaxy Z
Galaxy S
Galaxy Note
Galaxy A
You can also install Samsung Pay on smartwatches. The devices must be configured for the Swiss market.
Set up Samsung Pay on your smartwatch
Check that the Samsung Pay app is installed on your smartwatch. If not, download it.
Set up Samsung Wallet on your smartphone. Sign up for Samsung Pay within the wallet app.
You can then use Samsung Pay. To start the app, you need to press and hold the back button on your smartwatch.
5. How can I pay with my Samsung phone?
To pay with your Samsung smartphone, you need to open the Samsung Wallet app. Then select the card you want to pay with. Samsung Pay then normally switches on “Near Field Communication” (NFC) automatically.
NFC is a form of data transfer. The mobile phone communicates with the payment terminal via NFC. If NFC is turned off, you won’t be able to pay.
6. Is Samsung Pay secure?
According to Samsung, the payment service offers more security than physical cards. The following security mechanisms are installed:
Identification mark or tokenization: tokens allow personal data to be encrypted. Sensitive data is given a token that varies depending on the device. The token represents this sensitive data in the payment process. This means your payment details will not be transferred.
Secure environment: the secure environment is a separate chip in the device that stores the sensitive data. Most apps on your smartphone do not have access to the secure environment.
Samsung Knox Samsung Knox checks your smartphone for malware. If it finds something harmful on your phone, it disables Samsung Pay.
You must also confirm each payment by fingerprint or with your PIN.
7. Samsung Pay and Twint: how do they differ?
Samsung Pay is an international mobile payment service. Twint is an invention of Swiss banks. You can only use the app within Switzerland.
Advantages of Samsung Wallet over Twint:
You can also pay abroad with Samsung Pay.
The wallet also provides storage for other important documents.
With Samsung Wallet, one app works for all participating banks. You don’t have an app for each bank – as is usually the case with Twint.
Three advantages of Twint over Samsung Pay:
With Twint, you can send money to other people. This is not yet possible with Samsung Pay in Switzerland.
You can also use Twint with a prepaid option. So you don’t have to connect the app to a bank account or credit card.
Twint is largely independent of the smartphone brand and operating system. The app is available for both Android and iOS.
Google Pay and Apple Pay: both services work similarly to Samsung Pay. You can use Google Pay on most Android smartphones – regardless of the manufacturer. Apple Pay can only be used on Apple devices.
Watches: certain manufacturers of watches offer their own payment solutions. These include Swatch, Fitbit and Garmin. Most of them have to be connected to a credit card.
Other devices: in some cases, there are innovative, alternative payment options. This includes, for example, the Pagopace payment ring.
This article was first published on 08.10.2024
