After having announced it on the occasion of Google I/O 2022, the Mountain View giant has recently started the release of Google Wallet, the renewed “wallet” of the house that takes the place of the old Google Pay app.
The new app arrives on Android smartphones via the Google Play Store, through an update of the Google Pay app (the one that, as a logo, presents the multi-colored G and the word Pay on a white background), and brings users the new e updated functional and graphic experience (following the Material You dictates).
Google Wallet is being distributed via an update of the old Google Pay
One of Google’s greatest desires was to replace users’ physical wallets with a tool that would be more complete and more consistent with the rest of the Google Pay ecosystem (from a graphical point of view).
Google Wallet was born with exactly this goal, allowing users to store credit and debit cards, transport or event tickets, flight boarding passes, gift/loyalty cards but also vaccination certificates, virtual keys for cars and student ID cards.
This new version of the Google-branded virtual wallet presents the dynamic color theme, one of the canons of Material You, and the cards to be able to pay with a tap are shown, like a carousel, at the top of the app screen, keeping a very familiar design to users who have used Google Pay so far.
To add a card or any other supported ticket, simply press the button in the lower right corner, another common factor among all the apps that fully support Material You: by clicking the button, the user will be redirected to the ” Add to Wallet ”where you can choose the type of card/ticket to add to your virtual wallet.
The Google Wallet settings, reachable by clicking on the avatar of your profile, refer to the new menu that allows you to manage the payment profile, add passes directly from Gmail, view the details of purchases made, receive updates related to the passes entered and to join. or not to advertising emails.
In addition to changing the app itself, the quick toggle, reachable via the control center, also changes: this no longer has the word GPay but has the word Wallet and the words “tap to open”.
In the future of Wallet, there are identity documents and much more
The evolution of Google Pay into Google Wallet is only the first step of the complete project envisaged by Big G: in the future, in fact, this virtual wallet will be able to store driving licenses inside it, in total safety for users. , hotel room keys, office ID cards and much more.
Android already supports the underlying technology for archiving such documents; the ball now goes directly to local governments who will have to give the green light for this to be possible.
With the launch of Google Wallet, available in over 40 countries (including Italy), Google Pay will remain the true person responsible for the actual transaction (and its branding will still appear as a sticker in stores that support this payment method): Google essentially, it emulated what Apple did, which equipped its iPhones with the Wallet app and the Apple Pay service.
How to update the app to the latest version available
As anticipated, Google Wallet arrives via an update of the Google Pay app distributed through the Google Play Store: specifically, this is the update to version 2.150.460235810 which is not, however, yet widespread on a large scale (do not worry, therefore, if it is not yet available on your smartphone). To check the availability of the update, simply click on the Play Store link.
If you do not want to wait any longer, you can download the APK package through the APKMirror portal (page accessible via this link ) and proceed manually with the installation and, therefore, with the update.
The wallet is set to be available in over 40 countries…….
| Australia | Estonia | Japan (coming soon) | Slovakia |
| Austria | Finland | Kazakhstan | Spain |
| Belgium | France | Latvia | Sweden |
| Brazil | Germany | Lithuania | Switzerland |
| Bulgaria | Greece | Netherlands | Taiwan |
| Canada | Hong Kong | New Zealand | Ukraine |
| Chile | Hungary | Norway | United Arab Emirates |
| Croatia | Ireland | Poland | United Kingdom |
| Czech Republic | Israel | Portugal | |
| Denmark | Italy | Romania |
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