Samsung Wallet works best on Galaxy devices, and it’s my main wallet app on my Galaxy S21.
I’m thoroughly impressed with how it handles payments, especially the ability to complete peer-to-peer transactions remotely with another Samsung Wallet user.
Although I love using it to make payments, I keep going back to other wallet apps, especially Google Wallet, for specific needs.
I don’t mind it, except for one feature that I wish Samsung Wallet handled better.
It bothers me not because I’ve to look elsewhere, but because I fear that Samsung may never be able to get it right. The worst part is it may not even be Samsung’s fault.
While it’s fair to say Samsung Wallet gets a lot of things right that even Google Wallet doesn’t, it can’t manage passes as well as Google Wallet does.
Here is why I think it’ll always be the Achilles’ heel of Samsung Wallet.
Why are passes in Samsung Wallet not the best experience?
I recently went to watch a five-day Test cricket match between India and South Africa, and while collecting the ticket from the pickup point, I once again realized how easy Google Wallet makes ticketing feel.
The first time I noticed it was when I booked my first movie ticket after setting up Google Wallet for the first time to explore what it could do.
I booked movie tickets on different entertainment ticket apps, but Google Wallet ensures I don’t have to open those apps individually to show my tickets at different checkpoints.
No matter what app I use to book them, the tickets are always available on Google Wallet. The best part is I don’t have to do anything flashy to make it work on Google Wallet.
Google Wallet automatically imports my tickets when the ticketing partner sends them over to my email.
The integration isn’t available for everyone, so it doesn’t work with every ticketing app. If that’s the case, you can take a screenshot of the ticket or the QR code and import it to Google Wallet, just like I did to collect my pass for the cricket match.
Samsung Wallet isn’t remotely as convenient as Google Wallet in this case. Samsung Wallet has the “Add to Samsung Wallet” feature that allows users to add their ticket to the app using an email invitation.
However, ticketing partners will have to integrate it into their services for this to work, and there aren’t as many supporting it as I would’ve liked.
Another major downside is that it never takes human effort out of the equation, unlike Google Wallet.
Why it may never be as good as Google Wallet
Samsung can negotiate hard with ticketing partners and get as many of them as possible to add the “Add to Samsung Wallet” to their services.
That will certainly improve things, but it won’t be enough for Samsung to make users stick to its Wallet app for managing passes.
Samsung doesn’t have its own email service like Gmail or Outlook, so it can’t automatically import your tickets from your emails.
While it may be technically possible for Google to develop something with Samsung that enables automatic ticket imports on Samsung Wallet, it makes little business sense for Google to do so.
Why would you help your rival match one of the differentiating features of your product?
Google won’t like to do it, unless maybe governments across different parts of the world push for more interoperability. I’m not hopeful.
Something that benefits both companies could also bring Gmail and Samsung Wallet closer, but right now, I don’t have any reason to believe that it might happen in the future.
My heart wants to put the blame on Google, but my brain keeps reminding me of the old cliché: business is business.
Despite the flaw, Samsung Wallet stays my primary wallet app
My Samsung Galaxy S21 is in decent condition, and I’m planning to hold onto it as my main phone for at least another couple of years.
I also use the Galaxy Watch Classic as my main smartwatch, and I have no plan to move away from it anytime soon, either.
They are both in good condition, but the Samsung Wallet is also another solid reason I don’t see myself entering another ecosystem. I can go so far as to say that Samsung Wallet is the glue to my Galaxy ecosystem.
When I wear the Watch 4 Classic, I don’t even need to take my phone out of my pocket to make payments.
I have been doing it for so long that it almost feels natural. That’s convenience plus muscle memory, and switching to another to replace Samsung Wallet would mean relearning everything.
No thanks, I’m happy with how Samsung Wallet works and am still trusting it to serve me well in the future. Getting the passes right would just be a bonus.
