Owners of the new Samsung Galaxy S5 will be able to use the handset's fingerprint authentication system to make payments at online and in-store merchants that accept PayPal.
Eliminating the need for passwords, the new feature - available from April in 26 countries - will let Galaxy S5 users login and shop at any merchant that accepts PayPal on mobile and in-stores with only their fingerprint.
Hill Ferguson, chief product officer, PayPal, says: "By working with Samsung to leverage fingerprint authentication technology on their new Galaxy S5, we are able to demonstrate that consumers don't need to face a tradeoff between security and convenience."
PayPal says that customers can use their finger to pay because the Fido-ready software on the device securely communicates between the fingerprint sensor on their phone and its service in the cloud. The only information the device shares with PayPal is a unique encrypted key that for identifying the customer without having to store any biometric information on the eBay unit's servers.
The Fido (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance is a collection of major firms - including PayPal, Google and MasterCard - which bidding to replace password-based authentication with an industry-supported open protocol tied to the actual device used to access services.
PayPal also unveiled plans this week for a Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch app which will enable owners to check-in to pay at local stores, save and redeem offers, send money to a friend instantly, and receive payment notifications while on the go.