Samsung Pay Touch turns your Galaxy phone into a payment terminal

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With the advent of Google Pay and similar services, mobile payments are fast overtaking cash and card payments. The convenience of using your phone instead of having to carry cards cannot be overstated. Of course, now that we can send payments via mobile, it only makes sense that the next step should be the ability to receive payments via mobile. This has been semi-possible for some time. Services like Stripe and SumUp offer card small-scale terminals that can be paired with your smartphone via Bluetooth to receive payments. Now, Samsung has one-upped such services by launching Samsung Pay Touch.

Samsung Pay Touch is a relatively new app that takes compatible Galaxy smartphones and turns them into PoS (point-of-sale) terminals that can be used to receive contactless payments. In essence, Samsung is extending its Samsung Pay service from customers to merchants. That doesn’t mean that all merchants with Samsung devices will be able to use the app. Currently, the only supported models are the Galaxy S8/S8+, Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S9/S9+, Galaxy Note 9, and Galaxy S10/S10e/S10+. It’s also a safe bet that the Galaxy Note 10 will support the feature when it is released. Furthermore, it seems to be limited to users in Canada.

The service isn’t free to use. Credit card transactions will earn Samsung 2.6% per transaction. Debit cards, on the other hand, will set you back $0.10 per transaction for Interac Flash cards. Transfers aren’t immediate, they can take up to 48 hours. There is a limit of up to $100 on transactions, which is a little disappointing. Seeing as the app is more than likely targeted at smaller businesses, it means they’ll still have to invest in a dedicated terminal if they’re handling larger transactions, which renders the app somewhat obsolete.

Samsung Pay Touch isn’t lacking in features, however. There’s support for multiple devices being linked to one account, and business owners can create individual staff accounts to track sales for each staff member. This is really useful for companies whose pay is commission-based. On top of that, receipts can be sent via email, and products can be customized with photos, names, and prices.

The app is not without its flaws, however. Many reviews on the Google Play Store mention issues with registration – though to Samsung’s credit they seem to have replied to most of them with explanations. On average, the app has a 2.3/5 rating, which is less than impressive. However, if Samsung can fix these sign-in/sign-up issues, and get it working in more countries, they’re definitely onto something.

Via 1: SamMobile | Via 2: Reddit