Samsung Pay just killed its best feature on the S21
CNET,Technology,News,Tech,Review,mobile phone,apple,android,unboxing,vs,science,smartphone
Samsung has removed MST, or magnetic secure transmission, from the US editions of the Galaxy S21 phone and all future Galaxy phones sold in the US. This feature let you pay at almost any terminal, even ones that don’t support NFC or mobile payments.
Subscribe to CNET:
CNET playlists:
Download the new CNET app:
Like us on Facebook:
Follow us on Twitter:
Follow us on Instagram:
#Samsung #Pay #killed #feature #S21
Did anyone else just drive to the store without their wallet, try samsung pay, tell the cashier “don’t worry it always works”, hold up the line for 5 minutes, leave the store in shame, go to another store, try again, fail again, go back home, and end up here watching this video in a fit of rage? No, just me?
I was going buy s21 but not anymore. Went to big name brand and no Apple Pay :/
The fact they changed it for the 1% of businesses that have changed their stuff. Blows
Iphone 13 pro max got 😀
BS the S20 fx phones have this feature this b** does not know her s*** you can get an older phone for about 300 bucks that will do this S20
😪😪 just went to s22 ultra from note 8 can’t pay for my stuff here I am searching w😪
The only literal benefit of Samsung pay now is if you want to have NFC off at all times except payment, Samsung pay will only enable NFC for the duration of you trying to tap your card and will turn back off after you’re done. Otherwise in Canada, adding memberships is buggy or outright discontinued by the membership holder, Samsung doesn’t have any rewards system anymore — Samsung Pay is basically dead and Samsung knows it.
Yeah mst helped when I go to this little Spanish market to buy my horchata or my aloe drinks they don’t have NFC terminals.
Mag stripe transactions are being declined by default and there’s no sense in keeping that feature on phone anymore
So when you buy a Samsung phone do people use google pay or Samsung pay
Samsung fell prey to greed, tbh !
It’s literally, and consciously, downgrading itself in the name of UPGRADING.
I used MST and loved it, particularly the wide-eyed expressions of the people .. 😂
kinda miss it i rememevr walking into stores and they tell me its swipe only and i pull out my phone and it works
Living in the UK, where this wasn’t a remotely useful feature, I really can’t relate
I was going to upgrade — I had the option of S21 or Note 20 Ultra. I bought Note 20 Ultra simply because it had MST. Once its life ends, I will probably switch to an iPhone. MST kept me hooked to Samsung phones since 2016.
Thanks for the great info, i have the S22, like you will maybe go to Google Pay
I just bought an s22 (first Samsung in years) hoping to use mst at Walmart. Rejected! Walk of shame back to car to get my wallet. Yeah, I’m dropping spay & going back to gpay.
I still have 3 phones that Support Samsung Pay MST
And someone who goes to home Depot quite often this feature is amazing
I left Samsung pay because they took away of the rewards. But they remove mst as well? Why are they going backwards?
Never knew about this feature, but seems great.
Though cards based on magnetic strip technology are less secure, and had to be phased out eventually
I cant agree enough Going to use the ever living crap out of my Note 20 Ultra 😩😩😩😩
Totally agree. I live in major top ten metro area and even in 2023 many major retailers as well as others do not support NFC even thought many have upgraded their terminals. I am constantly being told my mst watch and phone won’t work when i go to pay only to have the cashiers be dumbfounded. I will be holding on to my older galaxy watch and phone for that very reason. That and expandable memory will eventually be why I will be shopping other makes once my current devices are no longer supported. O see Samsung has just folded their pay app in to their wallet so i will see what changes (downgrades?) that will bring.
Dropping MST was a terrible decision. Why make your phones LESS capable with a feature literally used everyday multiple times per day? Dropping MST is the reason I won’t be buying a Samsung. (Which is why I searched this video…)
Completely in agreement here. MST needs to make its way back. I live in a small town where most business do not accept NFC payments. I mean Walmart doesn’t even accept NFC yet.
Samsung has a bad habit of creating some really useful technology and then start removing features or killing it altogether.
P.S. I’m glad I’m not the only one who has had the “oh no, but you do accept phone payments” moment lol.
MST on Samsung Pay was the reason why I went with Samsung in the first place (with the original Galaxy S8). It differentiates itself from both Apple Pay & Google Pay, as not all places support NFC (& still don’t to this day).
Now with MST gone, it’s just an Apple Pay & a Google Pay clone. Samsung Pay would’ve won in all categories with MST around, but now it’s Apple Pay that does, especially as it’s supported in 74 countries compared to Google Pay supporting 58 countries & Samsung Pay supporting 25 countries.
Pretty sad, especially as this country (being the US) is one of the slowest to adopt to contactless technology.
Samsung S21 has many downgrades that I noticed immediately after unboxing, but this major feature removal has killed the primary reason that I have stuck with Samsung phones exclusively since the S5. I did not know this feature was removed until I was stuck without the ability to pay at a retailer using the same feature that I have been using for a decade. This is the last Samsung phone that I will own.
So, I’m just trying to set up digital payments. I was trying to decide between Google and Samsung. Good to know that the only great advantage that Samsung had is gone. So Google wins. Thank you for sharing 😁
<3
I had the brand new s22 ultra import model no samsung pay working google pay worked horribly with nfc a nightmare 😅 got quickly back to apple where everything works just the way it should
Two of the biggest grocery chains in the US, Walmart and Kroger, do not support NFC. They will co tinue to use terminals with magstripe readers until those terminals die and cannot be replaced. In fact, their current terminals have NFC hardware inside but it is disabled. And both companies are pushing customers towards their own proprietary (and extremely clunky and slow) mobile payment systems, while it is just faster and better to use MST or an actual card. Samsung really jumped the gun on companies phasing out magstripe terminals, and it will be the reason why I won’t give up my S20 FE for the forseeable future.
Why would they remove something that makes Samsung so much better than iphone and other Android phones?
Such a bummer. Samsung Pay used to work at Walmart, and since they removed it I can’t use it in there anymore.
Agree soo much, have had my S21 from when they came out from preorders years ago and it is the one thing I miss more than anything. I could go anywhere without cards on me. And yes people would tell me all the time it wouldn’t work. lol
MST was killed in the USA only because Samsung was/is being a sued for the underlying mag stripe emulation technology….
Yes, it was cool, but really, when was the last time you swiped a card? I have a feeling that Samsung sees the writing on the wall for swiping technology and decided not to support it because there would be little need for it anymore. For the last few years, I’ve seen fewer and fewer machines with swipe slots.
They also got rod of SD card slot and 1/8th inch jack for pro audio in/output. So sticking with out old Active series Samsungs
Will you help me about Google pay Wallet is not working on my mobile phone called Oppo A17 & lm Profoundly deaf Thanks 😊
I just purchased a new-in-box never-been-opened Note 20 Ultra 5G rather than the S23 Ultra for this very reason. It doesn’t matter what laws the US makes when you use it for travel.