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Afterward being announced dorsum in June at Google I/O, Android Pay is finally rolling out to devices. Yeah, Android users tin finally pay for things with their phones. Of course, they've been able to do that for the last four years with Google Wallet, only Android Pay is a dissimilar product that is certainly amend in some means, just too much more restrictive.

When Android Pay reaches your device, it volition actually install on top of the old Google Wallet app. This also comes with a new version of Google Play Services, which is installed automatically in the background. Android Pay is designed to handle credit and debit cards, loyalty programs, and gift cards. All the person-to-person money transfers using your Wallet balance are at present handled past a separate (new) Google Wallet app.

Only like Google Wallet, Android Pay works via near field communication (NFC). Nearly all Android phones have this feature built in, a notable exception beingness the OnePlus two. Any retailer with an NFC-enabled payment kiosk will be able to accept Android Pay. These are the same terminals that work with PayPass and Apple Pay. If yous meet any of those logos, Android Pay will work.

In that location is a fundamental divergence in the way Google Wallet and Android Pay work. In Wallet, you could add any card and Google would generate a universal virtual MasterCard that was used to process payments at the terminal. Android Pay uses your actual card number, but that ways your depository financial institution or carte du jour issuer needs to support Android Pay specifically. If it doesn't, you're pretty much out of luck.

Android Pay

And so why make Android Pay harder to use than Wallet? Because transactions in Google Wallet simply showed up as generic Google purchases, meaning card issuers didn't know how to calculate rewards and cash back. By running transactions through the existent bill of fare number and sending the metadata along with it, you go your rewards points and can improve track purchases. The virtual card trick upset banks, and then getting cozy with the card companies was really Google's only option.

Android Pay is also a more than secure payment selection than Google Wallet, You will need to accept a PIN, pattern, or password lock on your phone to activate Android Pay. Fingerprints will too exist supported on Android half-dozen.0 devices when they are available. Additionally, you tin't utilise a modified or rooted device with Android Pay. At that place are some workarounds for root, but a modified ROM might never function correctly.

As with many of Google's products, this is a staged rollout. The app volition be showing up in the Play Store for users over the coming days. Because only a few banks have support for Android Pay out of the gate, Google is allowing users to import the existing virtual cards from Wallet into Android Pay for a limited time. Information technology didn't say how long this offering will final, though, then Wallet users shouldn't put off updating.