It might even be a complete rebranding of Google Pay
When Google relaunched Pay back at the tail end of 2020, it was supposed to bring all of the company’s financial features into a single app. Contactless payments still exist, but generally, the app’s current direction is towards rewards cards, financial tracking, and sending or receiving money from friends. In January, we learned of Google’s plans to build a “comprehensive digital wallet,” and with a whole host of new screenshots, we’re learning exactly what that might mean for mobile payments on Android.
Esper.io’s Mishaal Rahman shared some screenshots of the new UI on Twitter. This look brings back the old “Wallet” name, something Google abandoned back in 2018 when merging it and Android Pay into one service. These screenshots even include last week’s leaked icon, pointing towards a more comprehensive rethinking of how Google Pay currently works than initially expected.
This new version of “Wallet” seems to follow through on the original plans the company laid out back in January when first bringing ex-PayPal executive Arnold Goldberg to lead the payments team. Pitched as a digital wallet for all of your cards — payment and otherwise — this new UI supports “payment cards, loyalty cards, and more all in one place.” Airline passes, theater tickets, gift cards, and transit fare cards all show up throughout the app, with the option to add more as needed.
According to the settings menu, Wallet can automatically pull passes and tickets from your Gmail account, another feature currently supported by Google Pay. You can also enable purchase reviews to keep an eye on your transactions.
This version of Wallet seems to duplicate plenty of the contactless features and functions of the current version of Google Pay without the additional bloat. According to Rahman, this UI is built into Google Play Services, which could point to a new split between Wallet and Pay, effectively returning us to a pre-2018 payment platform on Android.
It’s an interesting idea, and while not everyone will be happy to see two different payment platforms on their devices once more, it’s clear that Pay’s plan to compete with apps like Venmo and Mint has not caught on.
UPDATE: 2022/04/25 17:35 EST BY WILL SATTELBERG
Google preps for Wallet’s launch
As if to prove time is a flat circle once and for all, Google is currently prepping for the launch of Wallet, possibly bringing us back to two different pay-related services on Android. Mishaal Rahman provided us some new screenshots of Wallet, all while tweeting about inaccessible internal documents regarding the launch currently stored on Google Drive. One image displays a prompt to learn more about the “new and improved Wallet,” while another shows tips for using the app.
Meanwhile, Rahman notes the Google Pay icon in Quick Settings will be updated to show off new Wallet branding. Based on a specific string about installing Wallet, it seems possible that this could be a full rebranding for Pay.
We’ll have to wait a while longer to figure out what’s really going on here, but with Google I/O on the horizon, the wait shouldn’t be much longer.
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