What you need to know
- Google is reportedly planning to bring back the "Wallet" branding for storing digital cards.
- Google Pay would still be branded as the payment method in Wallet.
- This likely signals the first steps in Google's designs to make Google Pay a more comprehensive wallet app.
It looks like some changes are in the works for how Google stores digital payment and loyalty cards. The company may be looking to bring back the "Wallet" branding that it retired years ago in what could be another redesign of Google Pay.
The new interface was spotted by Mishaal Rahman, senior technical editor at Esper and former editor-in-chief of XDA Developers. Rahman posted a series of images in a tweet, showing off the new Wallet interface as well as a new icon.
From the images, it appears Google Wallet will be the branding for storing digital payment cards, gift cards, loyalty cards, and transit passes. As it stands, these are all held within the Google Pay app for contactless payments, but it appears that Google Wallet will be the space for digital cards while Google Pay will remain as the branding for making contactless payments.
Google Wallet was once the name of Google's contactless payment solution until Google started putting all its focus on Android Pay as its new payment app. Eventually, the two services were merged into a redesigned Google Pay app. The app received yet another redesign in 2020 for the best Android phones as Google began focusing more on peer-to-peer payments, although that redesign is only available in select few regions.
It may seem a little confusing, but it appears that the resurgence of the "Wallet" brand could be a new step toward Google's desire to make Google Pay a "comprehensive digital wallet," particularly after the company failed to break into banking. This would involve an increased focus on non-payment cards such as vaccine passports, loyalty programs, and even crypto.
The Wallet app appears to come with a new icon as well, which was previously spotted by 9to5Google and appears in Rahman's screenshots. The icon seems to more closely resemble a wallet.
More screenshots, including a peek at the new Wallet icon. pic.twitter.com/zmHcRs915BApril 18, 2022
The screenshots also show that the app will be able to automatically pull passes and add passes from Gmail. In addition to the prominent "Add to Wallet" button, it appears as though Google is attempting to streamline the app for easy access to all your digital cards.
So far, there hasn't been an official word from Google on the Wallet app. However, from the looks of it, the app seems just about ready for primetime, so it may not be long before we receive official information from Google.
