On July 18, 2022, Google began rolling out Google Wallet to Android phones. Google had unveiled it on May 11 during the I/O keynote that year, and it runs on Android phones, plus Wear OS and Fitbit OS devices.
The name is not new, which is part of the confusion. Google first used “Wallet” for a mobile payment service in 2011, then folded it into Android Pay and relaunched the lot as Google Pay in 2018. Back in January, Bloomberg News had reported that Google planned to remake Google Pay as a “comprehensive digital wallet,” and by April there were reports that the Wallet brand would come back in a new app. The July release replaced the 2018 app.
What goes in it
Mashable’s I/O coverage described the new Wallet as a catch-all: payment cards, vaccine cards, student IDs, car keys, driver’s licenses, even Disney World park passes. Australia’s 7NEWS added movie tickets, transit passes and rewards cards to the list, plus tracking of receipts. It said Wallet would also push updates from airlines when flights are delayed or a boarding gate changes.
Not everything arrives everywhere at once. Google said some features would reach different regions in the coming months. Only American users get a driver’s licence and car keys in it.
Google Pay does not vanish everywhere
7NEWS said the rollout would start on a Wednesday in most countries. In Australia a July system update was set to rename the Google Pay app, change its icon and add features, so Wallet simply takes Pay’s place on the phone. In the US and Singapore the two apps stay side by side, with Google Pay kept for sending money to friends. India’s users keep the Google Pay app unchanged.
Apple users, 7NEWS noted, already have a comparable wallet app.
Bill Ready, who runs commerce and payments at Google, told The Verge that Wallet could eventually link into other Google apps. One example he gave was Google Maps showing what is left on a transit pass, or what a ride costs. That depends on outside companies agreeing to plug their products in, so what Wallet can do will follow who signs up.
Mashable also flagged one privacy feature shown at I/O: virtual cards, which add a substitute card number when you autofill payment details so the real number never goes out online. American Express, Visa, Mastercard and Capital One cardholders in the US were due to get the option starting that summer.
Sources
- Google Pay moves out of the way as Android users welcome the new Google Wallet (7NEWS)
- Everything Google announced at I/O 2022 (Mashable)
