Tap-to-pay has proliferated to a point where it doesn’t feel new anymore. We’ve seen competitors come and go, like LG Pay, but the market is dominated by only three these days. They include Google Wallet (and Google Pay), Apple Pay, and Samsung Wallet. They have changed a bit over the years, but the mainstay features remain the same. We’ll compare all three and see which one is actually the best.

Google Wallet was re-branded and re-released to the public in 2022. With it came Material You theming, new functionality, a new UI, and better ease of use. It sits in your app drawer, largely untouched once you set everything up. Setting things up only takes a few minutes.

In day-to-day use, it works like Samsung Wallet and Apple Pay. You have options to access it from the lock screen, the main app, or via a quick settings toggle. You can also turn on your screen and immediately tap to pay. I also tested it on a Galaxy Watch 5, which worked as you would expect.

What makes Google Wallet good is that it just works. The technology is old at this point, so any hiccups would be a serious cause for concern. Adding payment cards, loyalty cards, and all of that is fairly quick and easy. Accessing them is about as easy. The only hiccup I had was setting up my payment card on my Galaxy S22 Ultra while it was running beta software. It literally wouldn’t let me do it, so I had to test Google Wallet with my Pixel 6.

Your cards are also available in places like the Play Store and the original Google Pay. Google does a nice job porting your payment information to its other apps and services without much effort on your part. That’s especially good news, considering how bad Google Pay has been.

In short, Google Wallet is an easy option and works well. However, if you want all of the features, like perks and rewards, sending people money, etc., you must use both Google Wallet and Google Pay. That’s a bit confusing, and we hope Google combines these two services eventually.

Apple Wallet is tough to write about because it definitely follows Apple’s mantra of “it just works”. I tested Apple Pay on a MacBook Air and an iPhone, which was pretty easy in both cases. Setting up a payment card took a minute at most. The service gets out of your way once it’s all set up, and I never had to go into the app to use it.

In practice, it works exactly like Google Wallet. You turn on your iPhone, tap to pay, and you’re on your way. I have the first-generation iPhone SE, so I set it up to double-tap the home button, which worked swimmingly. You can use Touch ID or Face ID, which I recommend, as it’s much faster than entering a PIN.

The nice part of Apple Pay is how well it integrates with everything. I originally set it up on the iPhone, and I could immediately use it on the MacBook. It’s just there, and it works. The settings for Apple Pay are in the iOS and macOS settings. As I said earlier, you never have to open the app again if you don’t want to.

The only downside to Apple Pay (and Apple Wallet) is the small stuff. You can send money, but you have to use Messages for it, which seems arbitrary to me. There aren’t any offers or perks for using it unless you sign up for an Apple credit card. I appreciate minimalism, but at the same time, it can occasionally feel too simple.

As a Samsung user, Samsung Wallet is my preferred service. It works like the two big competitors in most ways. Adding payment cards, loyalty cards, etc., is simple. Once done, using the service is simple. It integrates well with Samsung’s One UI and your Samsung Account. Let’s just say it competes.

What I like about Samsung Wallet are the small touches. A software tab is available where you can pull Samsung Wallet up, enter a credential, and pay immediately. It’s subjective, but I think the Samsung Wallet UI is the easiest to use out of all three. It uses a tabbed layout with well-labeled and logical options.

In day-to-day use, it works exactly like the other two. You activate it, enter a credential, pay, and then leave. I also tested it on my Galaxy Watch 5, which worked without issue. You can set it to activate tap-to-pay on the watch by long-pressing the back button, which I found convenient. The only weirdness is that the Galaxy S22 Ultra uses Samsung Wallet while the Galaxy Watch 5 still uses Samsung Pay. It’s the same thing, but Samsung apparently isn’t done rebranding it yet.

The only downside to using Samsung Wallet is how it feels like another option in the pile. Years ago, you got points for each purchase you made. Those points were usable for themes in the theme store and discounts from Samsung. Samsung phones from back then had MST, which allowed Samsung Pay to function on terminals without tap-to-pay functionality.

Now, Samsung Wallet has neither of those unique features anymore, and it feels all the more empty for it. It’s still a great option, but only if you’re into Samsung.

Which one is the best

This is kind of a silly question, if we’re being honest. Most wallet apps are platform-specific, so it’s not like you can use Apple Pay on Android or Samsung Pay on iPhone. You pick your poison when you pick your phone. That said, maybe you’re using this comparison to help choose whether or not to use Android or iOS, so we’ll give it our best shot.

Google Wallet is the only service that boasts multi-platform support. Even if iOS users can’t use it to tap and pay, at least they can still use it.

• Google Wallet is easy to use with a functional, simple, and good-looking app.
• Google Pay is optionally available with even more features, like sending people money, discounts, perks, and other stuff.
• Honestly, we’re just happy Google cleaned up its act after royally messing up with Google Pay’s redesign a few years ago.
• It’s not perfect, but it works on the largest number of devices and websites compared to all other competitors on the list.
• It supports the latest stuff, like COVID-19 vaccine records, state IDs, driver’s licenses, etc.

It’s tough to recommend Apple Pay. Not because it’s bad, but because you kind of have to use it if you’re on Apple devices and you don’t get any other choices.

• Deeply integrated with Apple hardware, making it easy to use if you own multiple Apple devices.
• Dead simple app. There is no drama during set-up, and you can natively access the settings through your device’s menu.
• It’s not quite as popular with websites as Google Pay, but more and more websites support Apple Pay.
• It supports most of the latest stuff, like state IDs, driver’s licenses, digital car keys, etc.

Samsung owners are the only ones with a choice, and we think Samsung Wallet is interesting enough to use instead of Google Wallet.

• It supports the latest stuff, like digital car keys, state IDs, driver’s licenses, COVID-19 vaccine records, etc.
• Excellent integration with Galaxy Watches, even if it’s still called Samsung Pay on the watch.
• It has the best perks and discounts feature of any of the competitors.
• You can still use Google Wallet on websites that accept Google Pay. It doesn’t mess up anything if you have both installed.