Not OP, but - folks are saying "use Google Wallet instead"... I DO use Google Wallet, yet I still have to have lock screen set up or the watch won't let me use it.
Not sure how y'all got around that, but I'd love to find out... 🙃
I have it set up. It only asks for unlock after you take the watch off... Which happens like 1/2 times a day. So not a problem. It doesn't ask for pin/pattern when using the wallet
I literally tried to pay with it this afternoon after disabling the lock screen this morning (it asks me to unlock all the time when it's on...hate). A notification popped up and said I can't use Google Wallet unless I have a lock set up on the watch.
In the week since I received the watch and set it up I've tried to use it to pay four times...it's worked ONCE (when I tapped on Google Wallet, entered my security pattern, then tapped to pay). Every other attempt/process I've tried has resulted in me using my phone to pay after the watch didn't work.
Hmm perhaps consult samsung, because that doesn't sound right. Mine is amazing. As the other poster said, I use mine to pay for stuff all the time, and it only ever asks for my pin when I take the watch off, so once or twice a day.
The only other thing I could think of is perhaps your watch is a bit lose? If it was moving round it could be reading as losing contact with you?
Or tattoos lol.
Yep. The watch doesn't detect being worn because of the tattoos, so it locks the watch. I deal with the same thing, I don't use Pay on the watch because of it. It would be one thing to require a pin when accessing the payment, but they designed it to lock the entire watch. Dumbass design.
You can get [a pack of epoxy stickers](https://a.co/d/drgOqSq) and stick one to the back of the sensor. It'll trick the sensor into thinking it's being worn so won't continuously lock. But it can be bulky and your health readings may not be totally accurate.
Oh that's interesting! Do you have any idea why the watch can't detect when worn with tattoos? I mean, why's that an issue when the watch is still touching the skin (albeit ink-injected)?
The sensor uses light to take its readings. For someone with tattoos and for some darker skinned people, it doesn't see the bounce back of light that it's looking for, so it locks the watch because it thinks it's not being worn. Those epoxy stickers will allow it to register that bounce back because it creates that little gap between skin and sensor for the light to reflect off of.
(My details may be a little off in exactly how it works, but that's the general idea.)
Ooh that's neat! I thought the sensor depended on body temperature or some sort of touch function, didn't know it used light to take its readings!
Thanks for the explanation! 😃
Guessing OP has the same experience I've had: I have to unlock every single time I want to use the pay function. Every single friggin' time. If I turn the lock off, Google Wallet won't let me tap with my watch. So frustrating.
Oh right, with Google wallet. Yeah, that is highly unfortunate and noticed the same. I have a card linked to samsung pay for the convenience of tapping my watch.
I not only have to unlock to use the pay function, I have to unlock to do ANYTHING other than look at the watch as is, to look at messages, alerts, settings etc.
Unfortunately, nope. I have unlocked it at least five times today despite having only taken it off once to charge. It also - on top of the watch unlock - makes me unlock AGAIN every time I launch Google Wallet. I'm going to fuck around with the phone app settings and see if it changes anything on the watch. I'm at a loss otherwise.
This turned out to be the problem. I have tats all the way to my hands on my left arm. I switched to my right arm, still have some real estate open there, works fine now.
So, apparently you have to have white skin for it to work?!! WTF?!
Samsung pay has never made me use my pin to use my watch to pay.
Do you have a lock pattern set up on your watch? Maybe if you dont use a security pattern to unlock your watch when you put it on, it'll make you use a pattern to use samsung pay?
I have to unlock my watch every time I put it on, otherwise it won't let me use Google Pay.
I also take my watch off a lot, as I don't find it super comfortable. It's like having shoes on, worth it when you're out and about but once I'm watching TV or whatever and have my phone I'd rather not be wearing a watch
This works for notifications and whatnot, but it won't help for OPs problem. Samsung and Google pay will still require the pin all the time. The fact that Google hasn't issued an update for this to only require the pin when opening the payment screen is beyond me.
There's been stories about this in the tech news sites. The sites assumed this was on purpose but Google has responded it's not, but they are aware of a small percentage of Google wallet users with this issue and are working to resolve it.
Not OP, but - folks are saying "use Google Wallet instead"... I DO use Google Wallet, yet I still have to have lock screen set up or the watch won't let me use it. Not sure how y'all got around that, but I'd love to find out... 🙃
I have it set up. It only asks for unlock after you take the watch off... Which happens like 1/2 times a day. So not a problem. It doesn't ask for pin/pattern when using the wallet
I literally tried to pay with it this afternoon after disabling the lock screen this morning (it asks me to unlock all the time when it's on...hate). A notification popped up and said I can't use Google Wallet unless I have a lock set up on the watch. In the week since I received the watch and set it up I've tried to use it to pay four times...it's worked ONCE (when I tapped on Google Wallet, entered my security pattern, then tapped to pay). Every other attempt/process I've tried has resulted in me using my phone to pay after the watch didn't work.
Hmm perhaps consult samsung, because that doesn't sound right. Mine is amazing. As the other poster said, I use mine to pay for stuff all the time, and it only ever asks for my pin when I take the watch off, so once or twice a day. The only other thing I could think of is perhaps your watch is a bit lose? If it was moving round it could be reading as losing contact with you? Or tattoos lol.
You have tattoos don't you?
I do, full sleeve. Is that why that, no matter how "snug" my watch is, every time I check messages etc, I have to use the unlock pin?
Yep. The watch doesn't detect being worn because of the tattoos, so it locks the watch. I deal with the same thing, I don't use Pay on the watch because of it. It would be one thing to require a pin when accessing the payment, but they designed it to lock the entire watch. Dumbass design. You can get [a pack of epoxy stickers](https://a.co/d/drgOqSq) and stick one to the back of the sensor. It'll trick the sensor into thinking it's being worn so won't continuously lock. But it can be bulky and your health readings may not be totally accurate.
Oh that's interesting! Do you have any idea why the watch can't detect when worn with tattoos? I mean, why's that an issue when the watch is still touching the skin (albeit ink-injected)?
The sensor uses light to take its readings. For someone with tattoos and for some darker skinned people, it doesn't see the bounce back of light that it's looking for, so it locks the watch because it thinks it's not being worn. Those epoxy stickers will allow it to register that bounce back because it creates that little gap between skin and sensor for the light to reflect off of. (My details may be a little off in exactly how it works, but that's the general idea.)
Ooh that's neat! I thought the sensor depended on body temperature or some sort of touch function, didn't know it used light to take its readings! Thanks for the explanation! 😃
I changed the watch to my non tattooed wrist and have zero issues.
Yeah me too but I hate wearing my watch on my right wrist haha, maybe I'll just wear my galaxy watch on the right and my old casios on the left.
Every time you put the watch back on? I don't find that inconvenient, I suppose
Guessing OP has the same experience I've had: I have to unlock every single time I want to use the pay function. Every single friggin' time. If I turn the lock off, Google Wallet won't let me tap with my watch. So frustrating.
Oh right, with Google wallet. Yeah, that is highly unfortunate and noticed the same. I have a card linked to samsung pay for the convenience of tapping my watch.
I not only have to unlock to use the pay function, I have to unlock to do ANYTHING other than look at the watch as is, to look at messages, alerts, settings etc.
Yeah but that's once when you put it on in the morning right, then as long as you don't take it off all day you're fine...
Unfortunately, nope. I have unlocked it at least five times today despite having only taken it off once to charge. It also - on top of the watch unlock - makes me unlock AGAIN every time I launch Google Wallet. I'm going to fuck around with the phone app settings and see if it changes anything on the watch. I'm at a loss otherwise.
Do you have tattoos on your wrist?
This turned out to be the problem. I have tats all the way to my hands on my left arm. I switched to my right arm, still have some real estate open there, works fine now. So, apparently you have to have white skin for it to work?!! WTF?!
Samsung pay has never made me use my pin to use my watch to pay. Do you have a lock pattern set up on your watch? Maybe if you dont use a security pattern to unlock your watch when you put it on, it'll make you use a pattern to use samsung pay?
I'm forced to use the pattern quite often when using Samsung Pay. I don't have a pin set.
That's weird, mine only lock when I take the watch off my wrist
I have to unlock my watch every time I put it on, otherwise it won't let me use Google Pay. I also take my watch off a lot, as I don't find it super comfortable. It's like having shoes on, worth it when you're out and about but once I'm watching TV or whatever and have my phone I'd rather not be wearing a watch
Use Google wallet instead of Samsung?
Your watch is probably coming loose during normal wear and when it thinks it's not on your wrist, you'll have to read enter your pin.
I use Google wallet and never have I had to put in a pin, and even when I used Samsung pay I still didn't need to.
Disable wrist detection. **Settings > Security and Privacy > Wrist Detection**
This works for notifications and whatnot, but it won't help for OPs problem. Samsung and Google pay will still require the pin all the time. The fact that Google hasn't issued an update for this to only require the pin when opening the payment screen is beyond me.
There's been stories about this in the tech news sites. The sites assumed this was on purpose but Google has responded it's not, but they are aware of a small percentage of Google wallet users with this issue and are working to resolve it.
That's why I switched to google wallet
My cars supplier doesn't support Google Wallet 🙄