Some Samsung Galaxy phones will soon lose access to an essential feature

Do you remember when we used to carry around cash? The days of coins and notes can often seem like a distant memory - I only carry around a pound coin for my locker at the gym. Nowadays pretty much everyone uses a card or their phone. Well if you have an older Samsung phone you might have to dust off your wallet or purse. 

Some users have been reporting receiving a message from Samsung that any device using Samsung Wallet on Android 9.0 or earlier will no longer be supported from next month, March 15th to be exact. If for some reason you're running an old version of Android on a newer phone, now is the time to update, but as clarified by the warning - if you have a Galaxy S10 or older, you're out of luck. That phone was released in March 2019, which feels like last week but is actually about to be five years ago. It doesn't support Android 10 or higher so there will be no more Samsung Wallet. 

It's easy to bemoan planned obsolescence as a cash-grabbing tactic, but in this instance it makes sense. Older operating systems are less secure and hackers have had longer to crack them, the last thing you need is for your bank details to be compromised. 

Samsung has made steps to stop this being a problem with its newer phones with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra promising to receive seven years of updates. Of course what might be a bit irritating is that many people use their wallet app for train tickets, and ID cards too.

If you're still on an older phone for financial reasons, that's understandable. If you want to stay with Samsung, we'd suggest something like the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, a lower-priced variant of its flagship phones. 

The amount of personal data we store on our phones these days does raise a few concerns when disposing of them. Remember to wipe your phone before trading it in or selling it, otherwise you may have just handed someone the keys to your life.