Gadgets7.02.2025

Most affordable tap-to-pay watches in South Africa

Many watches are available in South Africa that support tap-and-go digital wallets, which allow users to make payments easily and quickly without a card.

Contactless payments use near-field communications (NFC) technology to seamlessly and securely process transactions with NFC-enabled cards and devices.

A watch or smartwatch with an NFC chip allows you to make payments without pulling out your card or smartphone.

In addition, digital wallets support making payments even when your wearable device is not connected to the Internet.

In South Africa, five digital wallets — Apple Wallet, Garmin Pay, Google Wallet, Samsung Pay, and SwatchPay — support contactless payments via wearables.

MyBroadband searched major online outlets for the most affordable smartwatches, smart bands, and watches that support these wallets.

Fitbit was once the most affordable brand for digital wallet payments, with Fitbit Pay supported on some of its entry-level smart bands.

However, Google acquired the company and discontinued its products.

While many Fitbit devices now support Google Wallet, we could not find any Fitbit models selling new online at the time of our search.

Since 2023, Swiss watchmaker Swatch has offered the most affordable wearables that support tap payments in South Africa.

Its digital wallet is called SwatchPay and is supported on 24 of its regular analogue watches with embedded NFC chips.

Only four of these models are priced over R3,000. Of the remaining 20, four models are priced at less than R2,000.

The NFC chip in a Swatch watch is passive and does not consume additional power. That means the watch’s battery will last just as long as in an NFC-less watch.

Smartwatches typically have to be charged at least once every two or three days, so this is a significant advantage.

To link a card to the NFC chip in a Swatch watch, users must use a mobile Android or iOS app on their smartphone.

The downside to SwatchPay is that you will need to deactivate the watch’s tap-to-pay feature from your phone if your watch is stolen.

Smartwatches feature additional security mechanisms like automatic locking after wrist removal detection, requiring the user authenticate themselves with a PIN on the device.

That can prevent thieves from using your device for spending sprees.

The most affordable smartwatch with contactless payment support is the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, which is still available new online despite first going on sale in 2021.

Garmin also offers a wide range of tap-supporting devices for under R5,000.

While iPhone users have no Apple smartwatches available for under R5,000, Garmin’s smartwatches offer excellent compatibility with Apple’s smartphones.

Below are 10 of the most affordable smartwatches with tap-to-pay support in South Africa in February 2025.