Google Pay is rolling out peer-to-peer payment and the ability to store boarding passes or event tickets, putting everything under its brightly colored umbrella and eliminating the need for extra apps.
Eliminating the need for multiple apps, Google Wallet and Android Pay became one earlier this year; now the Google Pay and Google Pay Send features — to send or request money with contacts — also get combined in the ‘all in one’ Android app.
Whether wiring birthday money or requesting payment for the rent, now Google Pay users in the US can simply click on a contact, type an amount and then select ‘request’ or ‘send’. The feature is set to be available soon in the UK.
This could be very convenient for those restaurant trips with a group of friends as Google’s blogpost points out.
Meanwhile another new feature for Google Pay is designed to help users save paper and time. Now, once holiday or business flights are booked, avoid the last-minute stress of looking for boarding passes as they can now be stored in the app under the Passes tab. The same goes for other tickets, such as those for movie screenings, sporting events or concerts. Google notes that Ticketmaster and Southwest are already onboard with support for Eventbrite, Singapore Airlines, and Vueling coming soon.
The revamped Google Pay app now has four tabs on the bottom of the screen: Home, Payment, Passes and Send, organized to mirror a real wallet and its compartments to find everything from payment to tickets to loyalty cards. Payment will show credit cards or accounts linked to the user with the options to view recent transactions or purchases on Google.
Earlier in the week, Google opened up their desktop version — pay.google.com — to allow users to edit payment details, such as address, name, phone number and so on, which will then automatically sync with their smartphone’s Pay app.