Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is rolling out a new version of Google Play Services, bringing new features to Google Wallet.
- On Fitbit devices, Google Wallet now supports American Express cards.
- On phones, you can now choose to authenticate debit/credit card payments for your public transit journeys.
Google Wallet is a mobile payment app from Google that lets you store your card information securely on your phone and use it to make payments. If you’ve stayed loyal to the app all these years as it went through its rebrandings, Google has released new features that make the Google Wallet app a better experience.
As part of Google Play Service v24.16, Google is rolling out a few new features to Google Wallet. On Fitbit devices, you can now use American Express cards. This has been a long-standing user complaint, as Amex worked on Fitbit Pay on older Fitbits. When Google migrated to Google Wallet on Fitbit, American Express support wasn’t present, and this is finally being rectified.
Further, on Google Wallet on Android, you can now receive notifications with updates related to your passes within the app. The changelog also mentions “improvements when you sign up to pay for public transport” but does not mention more. 9to5Google spotted that Google Wallet has added new “Verification settings” for transit payments, allowing you to decide whether you want to authenticate before using a credit or debit card during your public transport journeys.
The changelog further mentions that you can now scan images with barcodes or QR codes and add them as a Wallet pass, though that feature was spotted on phones a few months ago.
Here are all the changes that Google mentions for Google Wallet, arriving through the new Google Play Services:
- [Wear] With this new feature, you can now use American Express for Wallet on Fitbit.
- [Phone] With this new feature, you’ll receive notifications with updates related to your passes within Google Wallet.
- [Phone] A new feature that lets you scan images with barcodes or QR codes and add them as a Wallet pass.
- [Phone] With updates to Wallet, you’ll get improvements when you sign up to pay for public transport.
These changes are now rolling out to all users. Have you received them? Let us know in the comments below!
