Samsung Pay finally arrives on the Gear S2 along with ‘Value Pack’ update

One of the promised features of Samsung’s Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic was the ability to use Samsung Pay on the watch for NFC payments, and now — nearly a year later — Samsung is finally launching this functionality on the Gear S2 along with a fairly beefy update…

Starting today the Samsung Gear app on Android has an option for enrolling in the Samsung Pay beta for the Gear S2. To get this option you’ll need to update your Gear S2 to the latest software update, update the Samsung Gear app on your smartphone, and then opt in to the beta program within the settings of that app. Once you’ve done that the Samsung Pay app should appear on your Gear S2. You can launch the app by long-pressing the back button on the watch until Samsung Pay opens up.

With this there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First of all, this will only work with a Samsung smartphone since the Samsung Pay app for the Gear S2 will need to be installed through the Galaxy Apps store. This also will not work with the cellular-connected Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic variants. Last but not least, the Gear S2 will only be capable of using NFC payments as MST capabilities are not available on this device. Oh it’s also US only.

On a related note, Samsung has also launched a new software update for the Gear S2, the “Value Pack” update. With this update Samsung adds several new features, many of which leaked last week. As rumored, this update allows Gear S2 users to install certain apps and watchfaces directly from their watch rather than doing so from their smartphone. Users will also now be able to set custom photos as the background to some pre-installed watchfaces.

Along with these updates, Samsung is also making some improvements to S Health and contacts. With S Health users can now share their workouts directly to Facebook and frequent contacts can now be added as widgets.