New Google Wallet is Starting to Show Up on People’s Phones

This week, the new Google Pay app was released from beta, and it represents the start of a significant change to the Google Pay service. Google is about to replace one excellent service with a worse, less useful service, putting existing Google Pay users through a transition reminiscent of the recent switch from Google Music to YouTube Music.

Google is updating the legacy Google Pay app to become Wallet, as announced at I/O. Users can get the update from the Play Store or download the required APK from APK Mirror. For the vast majority of the world, this means an update to their daily mobile payment app.

Google Wallet

A virtual wallet that works as a mobile payment system, Google Wallet enables users to send and receive money right from their phones. Users can store their credit, debit, gift, and loyalty card information and use the service for free. Anyone with a recent Android or Apple smartphone can use Google Wallet, which gives customers another quick way to pay at online retailers who accept it.

Google Pay is currently available in 42 markets, according to Google. Users in those markets will only see a Google Pay update to the new Google Wallet app because Google Pay is still primarily used as a wallet in 39 markets. The Wallet app will continue to exist in parallel and focus on storing your digital cards, but Google Pay will continue to be the app that focuses on payments in the US and Singapore. In India, Google predicts that “people will keep using the Google Pay app as they are used to today.”

Arnold Goldberg, the VP and GM of Payments at Google, who joined the company earlier this year after a lengthy tenure at PayPal, stated that “The Google Pay app will be a companion app to the Wallet.” “Consider [the Google Pay app] as this higher-value app that will be a location for you to make payments and manage money, whereas the wallet will really be this container for you to store your payment assets and your non-payment assets,” the author said.

In response to the rapid digitisation that has been taking place over the past two years of the pandemic, according to Goldberg, Google made this choice. “We talk about 10 years of change in two years, and people almost demand digitization now versus it being a nice-to-have pre-COVID,” he said. It has helped us hone in on what we need to do as a payments organisation and as a company to completely rethink how we process payments both online and offline as well as how we can support people in using their digital wallets.

Google Wallet vs Google Gpay

Here is a brief explanation for those who are curious about the distinction between Wallet and GPay. The old Google Pay app is the wallet Never mix up with GPay. Even though it is digital, the wallet functions exactly like a conventional wallet. This entails keeping all of your cards in one location for convenience. G Pay, on the other hand, enables users to transfer money among themselves, take advantage of cashback offers, and monitor spending on associated bank accounts.

Despite having two distinct apps, the two seem to serve essentially identical functions, especially since Wallet has a tap-pay feature. Basically, you need both apps to get the full Google Mobile Finance experience. The two frequently converse because G Pay has many links and when you select one, it immediately takes you to your wallet.

Conclusion

Alkye, as a technology business partner to our clients, always recommends market changes. We also advise our clients to upgrade their technology and consider market changes in order to help their businesses grow and take market share from their competitors.