Google Wallet launched for Android users in India

Google has launched a new private digital wallet designed for Android users in India, offering a secure platform for storing various cards, tickets, passes, keys, and IDs, an official announced on Wednesday.

In April 2024, Google announced that Google Wallet was available to some users in India but an official statement was yet to be released.

In an earlier report, YourStory had reported that the Google Wallet app, which can be downloaded from the Play Store, enables users to securely store a wide range of items, including loyalty cards, gift cards, flight and event tickets, transit passes, vaccination cards, digital car keys, and campus IDs.

Screenshots that were featured on the app description page indicated functionality such as storing Air India boarding passes, tracking reward points for the State Bank of India's Rewardz loyalty programme, and managing movie tickets purchased from PVR.

It's important to note that Google Wallet serves a distinct purpose from the Google Pay app, which primarily focuses on managing monetary transactions and finances.

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Ram Papatla, GM and India Engineering Lead for Android at Google, said, "Google Pay remains our primary payments app and will continue to be available. Google Wallet, on the other hand, is specifically designed to cater to non-payment related needs."

Google Wallet, first launched in September 2011 as a US mobile payment system, transitioned to Android Pay in 2015. In 2018, Google merged Wallet and Android Pay into Google Pay, consolidating their features.

Yet, in 2022, Google reintroduced Wallet as a separate app for storing cards online, providing a distinct avenue for managing digital assets alongside the Google Pay platform.

(With inputs from PTI)