Verizon disables PayPal fingerprint support in the Galaxy S5

Yesterday, PayPal announced that its fingerprint-based authentication system was live in 25 countries. Users will be able to authenticate their digital purchases on PayPal by swiping down on the home button. The idea is a novel way of extending the functionality offered by the fingerprint sensor. However, it looks like all carriers are not going to have this feature enabled. Droid-Life discovered that the PayPal authentication feature was disabled in Verizon’s version of the Galaxy S5. It is unclear as to why Verizon would disable this functionality, given that it is the only carrier who seems to have removed this feature. users trying to install a fingerrint-based authentication client on Verizon's Galaxy S5 are being shown a message that says “this application will not work on your device.”

We’re assuming that Samsung is not too pleased with the omission of this feature on Verizon’s Galaxy S5 handsets, as PayPal fingerprint authentication is one of the major features touted by the manufacturer. Yesterday, it was also found that Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint have disabled Download Booster, a feature through which users can download using a Wi-Fi and LTE connection simultaneously. There is no statement from the carriers as to why this feature was disabled, but it is likely that they want users to rely on mobile data more. Currently, T-Mobile is the only carrier in the US that is offering all the features that Samsung has included on the Galaxy S5. It also has a $200 trade-in deal for existing BlackBerry users.

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