Our smartphones have become indispensable digital wallets and we no longer need to carry physical cards. With Google Wallet and Samsung Pay at the top of the touch payment landscape, choosing which one best suits your needs can be a puzzle. Both apps work on most Android phones and our favorite Android smartwatches. Choosing the right one depends on your needs.
Both touch payment systems facilitate payments for Android users with NFC (Near Field Communication), but their features and device compatibility vary. Here’s what Google Wallet and Samsung Pay offer.
Google Wallet and Samsung Pay: A Brief History
Samsung Pay and Google Wallet have gone through several changes over the years. Here’s everything you need to know about this ever-changing terminology.
Samsung Pay
Samsung Pay was launched in 2015 and rebranded to Samsung Wallet in June 2022 in some countries. The new app has combined the Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass apps into a hub for everything related to payments, digital IDs, digital keys and loyalty programs on Samsung Galaxy phones. The app has not been renamed in South Korea, although it functions the same as Samsung Wallet.
Google Wallet
Google launched Google Wallet in 2011 and Android Pay in 2015. These apps were merged into one app (Google Pay) in 2018 and then renamed to Google Wallet in 2022. Today, Google Wallet is the dominant app name in the world. The act of paying with cards stored in the wallet is called Google Pay.
Google Pay is slated to shut down in 2024, with its core function absorbed into Google Wallet. That’s why it’s one of our favorite wallet apps for Android. Despite the different names, today’s Google payment apps have mostly the same features. The app below is the one we are referring to in this article.
Think of Google Wallet as an all-in-one digital companion for your Android device. It handles touch payment transactions (like Google Pay did) and extends to securely store essentials like loyalty cards, boarding passes, digital keys and your driver’s license (in supported regions).
How to add and remove credit cards to Google Wallet
Add or remove credit cards in seconds
Installation and integration of devices
A significant difference between Samsung Pay and Google Wallet is the devices they support. If you have a Samsung phone, you can install any payment service. If you own another Android or iOS device, you can only use Google Wallet. Samsung Pay is locked to Galaxy phones only. Google Wallet is not available for iPhone.
Regional availability and support for local cards
Samsung Pay is available in more than 24 countries and Google Wallet is available in more than 80 countries. Both work with almost all cards in the US. Most of the newly added banks are smaller local chains and credit unions. There are so many supported banks that it’s hard to find the ones that aren’t listed.
Google Wallet and Samsung Pay support membership cards, gift cards and public transport tickets in several places. Some airlines have added plane tickets. However, the app relies on your phone number to log in.
Possibilities of online and personal payment
Google Wallet and Samsung Pay support NFC technology, allowing you to make physical payments by touching your NFC-enabled Android phone to a compatible card reader. Not all merchants have NFC-compatible payment terminals, so this is not always an option.
Samsung phones previously had a technology called MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) to transmit magnetic stripe data from your card to non-NFC terminals. The latest Samsung Galaxy S24 series lacks that feature. Samsung moved away from that with the Galaxy S21 family when it dropped support for MST in the US, eliminating one of Samsung’s advantages over Google Wallet.
When it comes to online payments, many merchants have both platforms as accepted payment gateways, and the number continues to grow. Google Wallet is the most widely accepted platform.
How to add your driver’s license or government ID card to Google Wallet
A digital ID is handy to have if you can use it
NFC payments are a safe choice
NFC payments are very secure. NFC is more secure than a physical credit card when your phone is protected by a passcode or biometric unlocking method, adding an extra layer of authentication. Your actual credit card number is not stored on your phone with NFC payments. Instead, you are assigned a virtual card number that the card reader sees when you use the tap payment option. This makes your real card number more difficult to compromise at the point of sale level. Additionally, both offer remote device wipe in case of loss or theft.
Samsung Pay may have a data security advantage over Google Wallet. Both services have data encryption and built-in authentication. Samsung Pay uses an additional layer of protection with Samsung Knox. This defense-grade security platform is built into many Samsung devices, from the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 to the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It’s also available on several Galaxy Tab tablets, M-series phones, and A-series phones. While both services offer excellent security, Samsung Pay’s integration with Knox gives it a slight edge.
How to add and remove credit cards to Google Wallet
Add or remove credit cards in seconds
Reward management in your digital wallet
Samsung Pay and Google Wallet support gift and membership cards. Samsung offers discounts and special offers (which can be spam), and retailers offer app discounts. Google Wallet offers stronger rewards, cashback from several merchants, and a variety of in-store and online coupons.
The best aspect of Samsung Pay is Samsung Rewards. It allows you to earn points while shopping on the service and later redeem them by making purchases in the Samsung app or on the official website. While its loyalty cards, vouchers, and other offers are great, Google Wallet lacks its own rewards system.
Google Wallet vs. Samsung Pay: Which should you use?
Choosing between Google Wallet and Samsung Pay depends on your device and spending patterns. If you own a high-end Samsung device, you can use Samsung Pay, but Google Wallet often has wider merchant acceptance. Both apps can run simultaneously on your device. If you decide Wallet suits your needs better, it’s easy to deactivate Samsung Wallet (and Pay) on your Galaxy phone.