How to Disable or Remove Samsung Pay in 2026

Samsung Pay (rebranded to Samsung Wallet in 2023) is one of the harder-to-remove apps on a Galaxy phone, because it ties into both the Samsung account and the system biometric flow. In 2026 you can disable the swipe-up-for-payment gesture, remove individual cards, and uninstall the app on most models, with the catch that One UI 8 makes the last step a permission-aware operation rather than a one-tap uninstall.

Here is the 2026 path for each level of removal, from “turn off the gesture” to “disable the app entirely.”

Levels of removal

There are three layers: the lock-screen / home-screen gesture (the swipe-up from the bottom edge), the stored card and pass list, and the underlying app itself. Each layer turns off independently, and most readers only need to disable one of them.

If Samsung Pay is launching by accident from a swipe-up gesture, layer one is enough. If you simply do not want to use it, layer two removes the cards. If you want it gone entirely, layer three disables the app.

Disabling the gesture

Open Samsung Wallet (or the older Samsung Pay icon on legacy phones). Tap the kebab menu, Settings, Quick Access. Toggle off “Use Quick Access” or “Show on lock screen,” depending on the variant.

This is the most common case. The gesture stops triggering by accident; the app remains installed and the cards remain stored if you want them later.

Removing cards and passes

From Samsung Wallet’s main screen, tap each card, then the kebab menu, then Delete. The card is removed from the device, the underlying token is invalidated, and the bank is notified.

Removing all cards effectively neutralises the app even if it remains installed. Loyalty cards and boarding passes are removed the same way.

Disabling the app on One UI 8

Open Settings, Apps, search Samsung Wallet, then Disable. On most retail Galaxy phones in 2026, Disable is available and removes the app icon, stops background services, and prevents the gesture entirely.

On a few carrier builds (notably North American AT&T and Verizon-locked devices), the Disable option is hidden behind Force Stop only. In that case, the next-cleanest move is to remove all cards and turn off the gesture; the app cannot transact anything without those.

If you want it fully gone via ADB

Advanced users can use the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to issue “pm uninstall –user 0 com.samsung.android.spay” from a connected PC. This removes the app for the current user without root, and you can reinstall it from the Galaxy Store later if you change your mind.

This is overkill for most readers. The Settings-level Disable covers the case for almost everyone.

The setup, step by step

1. 1

   Turn off the gesture

   Samsung Wallet, kebab menu, Settings, Quick Access, Off.

2. 2

   Remove your cards

   Samsung Wallet, tap each card, kebab menu, Delete.

3. 3

   Disable the app

   Settings, Apps, Samsung Wallet, Disable.

4. 4

   If Disable is greyed out

   Use ADB to pm uninstall, or accept Force Stop plus empty card list as the practical equivalent.

FAQ

Bottom line

Disabling Samsung Wallet (the modern Samsung Pay) on a Galaxy phone in 2026 is a three-layer choice: turn off the gesture, remove the cards, or disable the app. Most readers need only the first or second. The third works on retail builds; carrier builds occasionally hide it, in which case ADB or an empty wallet handles the case. Google Wallet still works regardless.