Samsung Pay goes live in the US today

Following its earlier launch in South Korea and a short stint in a beta, Samsung Pay has finally arrived for US customers today. To make sure that you are ready to start making purchases, here’s a little check-list of things you need to know.

First up, you will need one of Samsung’s 2015 flagship smartphones. A Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, Edge+ or Note 5 handset will do, but you’re out of luck if you own a last gen smartphone. Unfortunately, international versions of these phones aren’t supported quite yet and neither are Verizon branded models. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and UScellular are the carriers offering Samsung Pay at the moment, but this may change going forward.

Samsung Pay also only supports a select number of credit cards for now too. VISA, MasterCard and American Express cards from Bank of America, Citi or US Bank are all accepted at launch, with more on the way in the future.

To use Samsung Pay, make sure that your smartphone is up to date with the latest software from Samsung and head on over the app screen. You should see a pre-loaded Samsung Pay icon that you can click to automatically download the 21MB app. For further help getting started, check out these handy guides from Samsung:

• What do I need to use Samsung Pay?
• How do I set up Samsung Pay?
• How do I make a payment?

If you missed out on the build-up, the big advantage with Samsung Pay is that it not only works with NFC payments like Google Wallet and Apple Pay do, but it can also be used with the vast majority of typical magnetic strip readers found dotted around businesses. Samsung has also announced that its mobile payment system works with the little Square card readers found in some stores. In other words, Samsung Pay should be accepted in almost all stores, while other mobile payment methods are more hit and miss.

Who is making their first Samsung Pay purchase today?