{"id":513684,"date":"2026-03-04T12:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/513684\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T12:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:15:09","slug":"the-pixel-watch-now-lets-you-tap-to-pay-without-opening-the-wallet-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/513684\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pixel Watch now lets you tap to pay without opening the Wallet app"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">Google has a big update in store for the Pixel Watch, which will now <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/products-and-platforms\/devices\/pixel\/march-2026-pixel-drop\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">allow you to make a range of payments<\/a> by simply tapping your watch to a retail terminal without opening the Wallet app. The feature, called \u201cexpress pay,\u201d is coming to the Pixel Watch 2 and later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">It\u2019s similar <a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-ie\/105123#:~:text=Open%20the%20Wallet%20app%20and%20select%20a%20card%2C%20pass%20or%20key.&amp;text=%2C%20then%20tap%20Card%20Details.,other%20compatible%20pass%20or%20key.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">to \u201cexpress mode\u201d on the Apple Watch<\/a>, a feature that lets you use compatible cards without waking or unlocking your device. However, Google notes that you\u2019ll need to opt in to use the new express pay feature, and that the watch itself will need to be unlocked to make a payment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">Before this update, Pixel Watch users had to double-tap the device\u2019s crown to open the Wallet app and make a payment. Google already allows Watch users to <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/googlepixelwatch\/answer\/16305341?hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tap to pay for transportation services<\/a> without opening the Wallet app.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">There are a couple of other features coming to the Pixel Watch 2 and later that make it a more useful companion to the Pixel phone, too. In addition to automatically locking your phone when you\u2019re out of range, Google is adding a feature that will alert you when you leave your phone behind. These two features work with a Pixel 8 and up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">Additionally, Google is trying to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2025\/1\/23\/24350457\/google-android-identity-check-pixel-phone-thieves-digital-accounts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">make its identity checks faster<\/a> when your watch and phone are connected, allowing you to perform sensitive actions \u2014 like turning off Find My Device \u2014 by adding a PIN, which Google says will speed up the process. This feature is only available with the Pixel Watch 3, Pixel Watch 4, and the Pixel 8 Pro and newer (excluding the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8A).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">Google\u2019s March update also brings the Find Hub to the original Pixel Watch and other Wear OS watches, adds new one-handed gestures to the Pixel Watch 3, and expands the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/hands-on\/761918\/google-pixel-watch-4-hands-on-smartwatch-wearable-gemini\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Satellite SOS feature on the Pixel Watch 4<\/a> to more locations, including Europe, Canada, Hawaii, and Alaska.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Google has a big update in store for the Pixel Watch, which will now allow you to make&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[49,48,195,192,1123,190,44,64,61,227],"class_list":{"0":"post-513684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-gadgets","11":"tag-google","12":"tag-google-pixel","13":"tag-mobile","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-tech","16":"tag-technology","17":"tag-wearable"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}