Google has redesigned its Google Pay app to focus on your relationships with people and businesses, offer new spending insights and increase privacy. You can even apply for a digital bank account. Here’s everything new coming to Google Pay.
The company announced the major update to its digital wallet on the Google blog this week.
The most visually obvious change is the new relationship-focussed design. Google has ditched the list of transactions to prioritise the friends and businesses you transact with most frequently. This means you can send money, see previous transactions, find offers and access your loyalty info all in one space.
You can also create groups to share costs between multiple people. You can create a group when you split the bill at dinner or when it’s time to collect money for home utilities. The app will even calculate how much everyone owes.
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You can also save money with the new and improved Google Pay. The app generates offers for brands like Burger King, Etsy, Target and Warby Parker, so you can save without searching for coupons or promo codes. All you need to do is tap on the offer and it’ll automatically be applied when you pay in store or online.
Connecting your bank account to Google Pay now allows the app to send you regular spending summaries, as well as offer trends and insight into your finances over time.
The search bar is smart, too. Google Pay will automatically organise your spending, so that when you search “food”, “last month” or “Mexican restaurants”, it will show you the most relevant transactions.
As far as privacy is concerned, Google Pay can alert you when it thinks you’re paying a stranger and offers control over its privacy settings that you can change at any time. For example, you can choose whether to let the app use your transaction history to personalise your experience with Google Pay.
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Finally, there’s Plex – a mobile bank account integrated into Google Pay. With Plex, you’ll be able to sign up for a checking or savings account with no monthly fees, overdraft charges or minimum balance requirements. Starting next year, 11 banks and credit unions in the US will begin offering Plex accounts in Google Pay.
According to Google, 150 million people across 30 countries use Google Pay every month, and 1000,000 restaurants, 30,000 gas stations and parking in over 400 cities accept Google Pay as a payment method.
The new features began rolling out for iOS and Android in the US yesterday, with Plex accounts set to arrive in 2021. There’s no word on when the update – or Plex – will arrive in the UK, so we’ll have to wait for Google to reveal more in the future.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
