The restart or conversion of the payment platform google pay it became official a few days ago and now we know that the whole project could be called “Back to the Future”. In the next few days it google wallet return, integrate the payment platform as part and offer many additional possibilities. But even here, Google leaves a back door open.
We’ve already reported extensively here on the blog over the last few weeks about the major changes coming to Google Pay, and with Wednesday’s announcement it’s clear that all suspicions have been realized. The previously well-known Google Pay will go away and be replaced by the new Google Wallet app with an update. You will then find a new icon on the home screen and many other places and have to get used to a new app accordingly.
Google Wallet takes a completely different approach than Google Pay, but both apps overlap so much in the payment area that they are integrated with each other. This means you can continue to pay as usual with your credit card stored in Google Pay, regardless of the app’s logo or name. This is also possible because the payment infrastructure is deeply integrated into Android and basically does not need any apps.
The change is necessary because Google missed out on the Google Pay split, but also because of other developments. Work is underway to digitize many physical things in the wallet and store them on the smartphone. Some of it fits with Google Pay, like loyalty cards, but other things stored in it (listed below) just don’t want to be included in the word “Pay”. In “Wallet” (purse) that fits more.
Google Wallet aims to digitize all possible objects in the wallet so that in the future you only need your smartphone. This ranges from payment options to car keys, identification or vaccination certificates. Google has already announced the following things and promised more. They want to create ways for users to store things that Wallet doesn’t officially support. However, no details were given.
This can be saved in Google Wallet
- Credit cards
- Boarding Passes / Ride Tickets
- loyalty cards
- event tickets
- car key
- student id cards
- vaccination certificate
- Driving license (later this year)
- Hotel key (coming soon)
- Office Badges (coming soon)
That’s a lot. Credit cards are also managed by Wallet, but using your smartphone to pay at the supermarket checkout is still the main task of Google Pay. In this way, both products are maintained, although in most cases the user will only interact with Wallet. The following animation on Twitter sums up very well how Google Wallet will be composed.
Phone, keys… Google Wallet. Coming to Android soon, Google Wallet gives you quick and secure access to all your everyday essentials, including payment cards, boarding passes, vaccination cards, event tickets, and soon even your driver’s license. #GoogleIO pic.twitter.com/BJXKbykaSw
-GoogleGoogle) May 11, 2022
But that doesn’t mean that Google is now cleaning up and only having one app in the whole world again. Instead, there are still three different configurations, but at least we German-speaking users belong to the rest of the world this time, which is the absolute majority.
Google Pay will become Google Wallet in almost every country in the world where Pay was previously possible. In the US, however, Google Wallet and GPay will continue to exist in parallel. Apparently they are still following some plans with GPay that cannot be pushed into the wallet pay corset. The question is: if this is successful, will things soon change again in the rest of the world? A missed opportunity in my opinion. And India is another chapter of its own, because there is no wallet on the semi-continent.
It remains to be seen how successful this reboot can be. I imagine that many users will not be enthusiastic about Wallet at first. Because by default they only have your credit card, which suddenly takes two apps to manage. But Wallet should also be filled with reservations and tickets, accept customer cards and store other things. After a certain transition period, it will probably have been worth it and Google is also on the right track with Apple’s recipe in this area.
The switch from Google Pay to Google Wallet will roll out globally in the coming weeks. It is very possible that the first users will see it now or in the next few days.
» Google Keep: Format text inside notes; the new feature is about to be implemented (screenshot)
» This is how Google Maps works: Developers show how streets, images and data get to the map platform
Subscribe to GoogleWatchBlog on Google News | Subscribe to the GoogleWatchBlog newsletter
Introvert. Beer guru. Communicator. Travel fanatic. Web advocate. Certified alcohol geek. Tv buff. Subtly charming internet aficionado.
