These new features are going to make your physical wallet a whole lot lighter.
Source: Google
Google’s rebranded and updated Wallet app made its debut around a year ago. Since then, the company has been diligently working on making it better, offering users a safe and secure way to store payment cards, digital IDs, loyalty cards, and even car keys. Today, the company has announced several new features, giving users more ways to store their physical cards in their digital wallet.
Source: Google
Today, Google announced a variety of new features coming to Google Wallet. It currently offers support for a wide variety of different types of cards, keys, and passes, but now it’s giving users a simple and easy way to store pass types that weren’t previously supported. Whether it’s from your local gym, a unique club card, or just a random piece of paper with a barcode on it, Google Wallet will soon be able to store these types of odd passes securely in Wallet. The app will allow users to take photos of these unique cards, and Wallet will create a secure and digital version of it. The only stipulation is that the pass or card must have a barcode or QR code. While the possibilities are really endless, Google does provide some great examples, like using the new features for “transit QR tickets, parking passes or e-commerce return QR codes.”
Source: Google
Google is also teaming up with Humana to create a digital version of their health insurance card that can be stored on Wallet. Those that use Humana will now have a quick and easy way to access their insurance information. Furthermore, Google is also going to allow National Insurance Number cards to be added to Wallet from the HMRC app for those in the UK. Since these types of cards can have sensitive information, Google will categorize these as private pass cards and will include a private pass label on the cards too. It will require the user to verify themselves using a PIN or biometric scan before gaining access to them in Google Wallet.
Source: Google
Perhaps one of the biggest features of Google Wallet that everyone is waiting to roll out in full is support for digital IDs. Today, those in Maryland will be able to save their ID or driver’s license to their Google Wallet, with the added bonus of being able to use the new digital ID in TSA PreCheck lines at a select number of airports. TSA-compliant digital IDs were uncovered nearly a year ago, so it’s good to see it finally being implemented. Luckily, those in Arizona, Colorado, and Georgia will also see this feature become available in the near future, with Google stating that it will be rolling out in the coming months.
Google, at some point, will also be introducing a way to add corporate badges to Wallet, giving employees a new and secure way to enter buildings, workspaces, meeting rooms, and more. In addition to adding support for SmarTrip and Clipper cards, the firm is also expanding support for transit passes to more countries, with those in Germany now being able to save “Deutschlandticket purchased at select transit agencies” to Wallet. Google also will bolster its Messages app to be able to handle airplane check-in processes entirely within the app. Once a boarding pass is issued, users will be able to take it from Messages and import it directly into Wallet. This will roll out with Vietnam Airlines first and will also be available with Renfe.