Samsung Wallet Adds 'Tap To Transfer' Feature That Works With Physical Cards Too

Samsung Wallet is adding a clever new “Tap to Transfer” feature that lets you quickly exchange money between friends, including using other mobile wallets or even a physical card.

It’s gotten a lot easier to split payments and transfer money between people over the past decade or two thanks to apps and services such as PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, and more, but there’s still a bit of friction at times when it comes to setting up accounts or getting those funds into or out of your actual bank account.

That’s where Samsung sees its “Tap to Transfer” feature in Samsung Wallet being useful.

This new feature allows users to make peer-to-peer payments through their mobile wallet without any accounts needed. Using a debit card, you can send money to friends and family through Samsung Wallet. This works whether the card is in someone else’s mobile wallet (Google Wallet, Apple Wallet) or a physical debit card. As long as it has NFC, it should work just as using Samsung Wallet would when paying in a store. P2P payments will also be available in Samsung Wallet using a phone number, but that only works with other Samsung Wallet users.

Samsung explains:

Through Samsung’s collaboration with Visa and Mastercard, you can use a debit card stored in your Samsung Wallet to send money to friends and family members’ bank accounts without needing to download an additional app. Instead, Samsung Wallet uses NFC technology to connect to the recipient’s debit card stored in their digital wallet. Plus, you can even transfer money to people without a digital wallet as long as they have a physical debit card with tap-to-pay capabilities. It works by Samsung Wallet connecting to the chip in their debit card, just like when paying in a store. If you want to send money to a Samsung Wallet but they aren’t nearby, you can easily find their Samsung account by searching their phone number and completing the transfer remotely.

There are a couple of catches, though.

Firstly, this functionality will only work in the United States for the time being. Further, Samsung says this requires a “contactless and payments transaction-enabled Visa or Mastercard debit card from a participating U.S.
bank,” and there’s no word on what banks will or will not be participating.

“Tap to Transfer” will be available in Samsung Wallet starting “later this month.”

The company is also preparing for an installment payment feature in its Wallet app.