Phone payment setting question

[Will_T]

Having just moved back to Samsung, a S22 Ultra, after a few years with a Pixel, I am looking at Samsung Pay vs. Google Pay. I like the fact that I can put any card, and digital vaccination record into Samsung Pay. I don't see that you can do that with Gpay but I will have to investigate that further. But my question now concerns just Gpay:

There is a setting in Gpay to turn on "Purchase Authentication". I can't get exactly what this is and how it differs from having to unlock your phone to use Gpay?

Does turning off Purchase Authentication mean that you no longer have to unlock your phone to use Gpay at the grocery store? Or are the two things different? If they are different, what exactly extra happens when you turn on Purchase Authentication?

Thanks.

 

[Will_T]

I just used GPay on the S22 at the grocery store. I unlocked the phone with my face and held it to the terminal. It did not work. It then asked me to also enter my phone pin. I want it to work without the phone pin once I use face or fingerprint to unlock the phone. Is that possible? Why have to go through two separate unlock steps to use? Maybe that somehow related to the "Purchase Authentication" I am trying to figure out although I have that turned off.

 

[leerandall]

My understanding is that it's the banks that disallow facial recognition authentication for GPay/Samsung Pay transactions.

 

[Will_T]

My understanding is that it's the banks that disallow facial recognition authentication for GPay/Samsung Pay transactions.

So you are saying if you unlock the phone with face, then you have to unlock it again a 2nd time to use GPay. But if you use fingerprint unlock, you don't have to do that? I will try fingerprint next time as I am putting in my prints after I install my Whitestone screen protector tonight. (I hope... The instructions for that protector look crazy, crazy, crazy complicated!)

 

[leerandall]

The way I do it at checkout is to unlock my phone with my thumb, then hold the phone to the checkout terminal. You don't have to open the GPay app.

 

[Will_T]

The way I do it at checkout is to unlock my phone with my thumb, then hold the phone to the checkout terminal. You don't have to open the GPay app.

OK. Thanks. What I did is unlock the phone with my face and hold it to the terminal. That is when it made me stop and enter my pin to get it to work. I will hide my face from the phone next time and use fingerprint to unlock and see if it works as for you. I am pessimistic about the reliability of the fingerprint with a glass screen protector but hopefully I will be one of the lucky ones that it works well for.

The fingerprint was the main reason I gave up on Pixel phones. I know 3 people with the Pixel 6 and none of them have much success with a screen protector and the fingerprint reader. I got tired of waiting for Google to fix it but I have also seen some reports online about a similar issue with the S22. That was a great feature of my old Pixel 2XL with the reader on the back of the phone. It was flawlessly reliable.

 

[leerandall]

When I am about to pay for something with my phone, I've learned to angle it away from my face so it won't unlock that way. It only took 2 or 3 times having my payment rejected for me to get in the habit of unlocking with my thumb when I'm about to pay.

 

[tscanlon]

I have only tried it once, yesterday, it opened the app and I had to use my fingerprint to confirm. Perhaps it was already unlocked via smart unlock through my watch. I am happy to provide my fingerprint as an added measure, then again the fingerprint sensor has been super accurate, perhaps because I'm not using a screen protector.

 

[Will_T]

I confirmed today that it is the Gpay app or the bank card company requiring a fingerprint instead of face recognition. If I unlock with thumb or PIN it works right away. If I unlock with face rec. it makes me unlock again with thumb or PIN. The financial companies must just think face recognition is not secure enough for them.