What is Samsung Pay:
In the simplest terms, Samsung Pay is a new way to make digital payments using your smartphone. It has been developed by Samsung in collaboration with Mastercard.
How is it different from other digital payment solutions? Well, as per Samsung, this one service in your phone can help you make payment from any of your bank account, at almost any place where credit and debit cards are accepted. It is supposed to be like a digital wallet within which you can securely carry all your credit and debit cards.
Setting up Samsung Pay:
Samsung Pay can only be used on the compatible devices which will soon get it through a software update. You also need a Samsung account to use Samsung Pay. Once all that is ready, you can set up your Pay account using either your fingerprint or a PIN. After registering, you can start adding the details of your credit or debit cards manually. The app also allows the camera to auto read the card details to make this process easy and error free. The user verification is done via an OTP. Just follow the steps shown by the app and the card will get stored on the device. You only need to do this once and you can store upto 10 cards on Samsung Pay and set your 'favourites' among them.
How to use Samsung Pay:
Adding the cards on this app may take some time as various steps have to be completed to ensure proper security. However, using it is as easy as using physical debit or credit cards. Just select the card from those stored on your phone, bring the phone closer to an MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) or NFC (Near Field Communication) enabled device, authenticate your payment using your fingerprint or PIN and send the payment.
Security Features of Samsung Pay:
The safety of the credit or debit cards stored on Samsung Pay is ensured by three layers of security. The information of the cards is encrypted and converted into digital token to keep it safe from hackers. No payment can be made without the user-selected authentication method (fingerprint/PIN). And the whole app and its data is locked away within the secure partition of Samsung Knox. This keeps the app away from other and possible insecure apps and files.
Overall, Samsung Pay sounds like a secure and convenient way to make payments using mobiles. It would reduce the need of carrying physical credit and debit cards. This payment method has done well in the countries where it has been tried. It will be interesting to see how it fairs in India. As yet, it is available only on select Samsung Galaxy smartphones.
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