{"id":948582,"date":"2026-10-27T21:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T21:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/948582\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T21:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T21:14:16","slug":"google-wallet-may-soon-let-you-pay-without-unlocking-your-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/948582\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Wallet may soon let you pay without unlocking your phone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Google<\/p>\n

Jerry Hildenbrand \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

Add Android Authority on Google: <\/p>\n

TL;DR<\/p>\n

Google Wallet could soon introduce new verification controls for regular contactless payments, similar to those available for transit payments.
\nA new \u201cTap to pay\u201d option has been spotted under Google Wallet\u2019s Verification settings.
\nThe option currently crashes the app when selected, so it\u2019s unclear what controls or security safeguards Google plans to offer with it.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a Google Walle<\/a>t user, you know how convenient it is to pay for things with a simple tap of your phone. Of course, that convenience comes with a side of vulnerability, and that\u2019s precisely why Google Wallet always requires you to verify your identity before completing a payment.<\/p>\n

This verification stays valid for a few minutes before timing out, forcing users to verify their identity again to make subsequent contactless payments. This isn\u2019t a huge inconvenience, but it\u2019s something Google likely wants to give more flexibility around regardless.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re reading an Authority Insights<\/a> story. Authority Insights brings you all the latest exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage from the Android Authority team that you won\u2019t find anywhere else.<\/p>\n

To understand what might be changing, you first need to grasp how Google Wallet\u2019s verification requirement works. To make a Google Wallet contactless payment, you need to verify your identity using a supported screen lock method. This can be whatever you unlock your phone with: a PIN, pattern, password, or class 3 biometrics like fingerprints or face unlock. Once you unlock your phone, simply holding it near a payment terminal completes the transaction.<\/p>\n

This verification, in Google\u2019s own words, remains valid for a \u201cfew minutes<\/a>,\u201d and if you need to make another payment, you will be asked to verify your identity again. Interestingly, this even applies if you opened the Google Wallet app after unlocking your device using a class 1 or class 2 biometric like Smart Unlock or Knock to Unlock.<\/p>\n

This can be an annoyance for some, and although users already have a way around the verification requirement, it doesn\u2019t apply to regular contactless payments. For reference, under Wallet settings > Verification settings, Google Wallet users have the option to disable the verification requirement for supported transit systems. Disabling verification essentially means you can tap and pay for rides without having to first unlock your phone. This exception doesn\u2019t extend to regular contactless payments, and that\u2019s precisely what Google appears to be looking into.<\/p>\n

Google Wallet\u2019s next trick could save you a few taps at checkout\n<\/p>\n

\"google\"google<\/p>\n

In the latest Google Wallet build, we were able to manually enable a new Tap to pay entry in the aforementioned verification exception page, as seen in the images above. \u201cChoose if you\u2019ll need to verify it\u2019s you when using your items stored in Wallet,\u201d reads the page, with Tap to pay listed right below.<\/p>\n

The addition suggests that Google could be working on introducing a transit-like verification exemption for regular contactless purchases. If this does materialize into an actual feature, it will, of course, have its drawbacks. Disabling verification for payments could introduce security risks when someone gets hold of your phone, though we\u2019re expecting Google to introduce necessary safeguards for such scenarios.<\/p>\n

Tapping the new Tap to pay entry currently triggers a Google Wallet crash, so we can\u2019t confirm what, if any, safeguards will be in place.<\/p>\n

The feature is still in development, and we\u2019re uncertain if and when Google plans to roll it out.<\/p>\n

\u26a0\ufe0f An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jerry Hildenbrand \/ Android Authority Add Android Authority on Google: TL;DR Google Wallet could soon introduce new verification…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":948583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[5497,49,48,192,36044,190,27515,61],"class_list":["post-948582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-authority-insights","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-google","tag-google-wallet","tag-mobile","tag-mobile-payments","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948582","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=948582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/948583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}