ONE-SWIPE: Samsung Wallet offers access to payment cards, digital keys, boarding passes and more
Samsung Galaxy users in the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK can now store their digital payment, loyalty and membership cards as well as digital keys, boarding passes and Covid-19 vaccination certificates on their smartphone using the Samsung Wallet app.
The South Korea-based tech giant has launched the new app by integrating Samsung Pay with the Samsung Pass and SmartThings platforms, and says that users will be able to add digital identity documents such as their driving licence or student ID “later this year”.
Users with Galaxy devices running Android 9 Pie or later can migrate to Samsung Wallet directly from Samsung Pay or Samsung Pass or by visiting the online Galaxy Store.
“Samsung Wallet gives users a refined interface and one-swipe access to their payment cards, loyalty and membership cards and more,” Samsung says.
“Samsung Wallet also incorporates the functionality of Samsung Pass, which securely stores passwords and enables users to quickly and easily log into apps and services.
“It even helps users quickly monitor their digital asset portfolio by checking the value of their cryptocurrencies across various exchanges in one place.
“Other important documentation, such as proof of Covid-19 vaccination status, can also be securely stored in Samsung Wallet.”
Users can also “easily add digital home keys” and digital car keys for selected BMW, Genesis and Hyundai models “with additional automaker partnerships expected”.
At launch, Samsung Wallet will support digital boarding passes for services operated by Korean Air.
“Samsung Wallet is protected by defence-grade security platform Samsung Knox,” Samsung adds.
“Protections include fingerprint recognition and encryption which help safeguard users’ sensitive data, so only the device owners can access their important information.
“Along with Samsung Knox, certain key sensitive items in Samsung Wallet are stored in an isolated environment — the embedded Secure Element — which also helps protect against digital and physical hacking.”
Samsung launched its original Samsung Wallet service in 2013 before discontinuing it in June 2015 and then rolling out Samsung Pay later that year.
Samsung combines payments, digital keys, boarding passes and IDs in single mobile wallet app was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.