Samsung Pay is a widely accepted mobile payment service. It is available in 24 different markets and has nearly 2,000 banking and financial partners globally. Samsung has now rolled out the service for smartwatch owners in South Africa. Owners of the Galaxy Watch, Gear S3, and the Gear Sport can now install Samsung Pay on their devices.
Samsung Pay available for Samsung smartwatches in South Africa
Samsung had said last month that it would launch Samsung Pay for smartwatches in South Africa soon. The company has now officially rolled out the support for the compatible wearable devices. However, the payments can be made only through NFC technology. This essentially means you cannot use the service at POS terminals which do not support contactless payments. So no additional luck for the Gear S3 owners despite their device being equipped with MST.
To make payments with your Samsung smartwatch, you first need to register your card with Samsung Pay. You can do so through the Galaxy Wearable app on your Samsung smartphone. This is a one-time process. Once done, you can make payments at any NFC card reader. Just place your watch near the terminal and press and hold the Back key for one second. Now select your card and tap “Pay”. You do not need your watch to be connected with your smartphone to make payments. Also, your watch will request a security PIN if it detects that contact with the body has been broken.
While Samsung Pay is a globally accepted mobile payment service, it is up to the banks and card providers to enable support for the service. Currently, Absa and Standard Bank are the only two banks that support Samsung Pay in South Africa. And not all cards from these banks may work with Samsung Pay. So make sure to verify that your card supports mobile payments through Samsung Pay before proceeding on with using the service.
Have questions about Samsung Pay? Check out our dedicated page to see what it is all about.
