Google Pay is going to get smarter in the future
Google seems to definitely not be done with the idea of Google Pay. As you may know, in 2021, the company relaunched Google Pay with a focus on money management, as well as the option to get rewards and cashback on your purchase, but the initiative didn’t go too well. That being said, Google has set its eyes on making Google Pay a better and more competitive option. During the Google Pay session at I/O, Rajiv Apana, a Product Lead for Google Pay, explained some new additions to the app and the revival of Wallet. Among the features it was talked about during the session, there were new APIs and tools that developers can use, as well as a glimpse of a future goal for the app. A useful feature that might make Google Pay stand out is actually the ability to sort through your various credit cards and find the one that offers the best rewards for the purchase you’re making at a given moment, according to Apana. The company is working on including info about points, cashback, and purchase predictions as card benefits.
Despite that, there’s no information or any indication that Google has decided to go for this feature and that it has included it in its roadmap. However, if the Mountain View tech giant is able to do that, such credit card rewards would be extremely useful and profitable.
One important thing to mention here is that such credit card rewards programs is that useful and profitable if you use it correctly. However, it actually takes a lot of research and work in order to do that.
Let’s look at some possible use cases. For example, in the future Google Pay can direct you to use one card while booking a flight, and another for its extended warranty while buying a new smartphone. And if Google makes this feature a reality, it will indeed make it stand out over alternatives.
For the moment, Google has not shared any additional information on the project, and we’ll have to wait and see how it will go. Nevertheless, it is an exciting possibility and here’s to hoping Google can make this feature work.
In the video below, you can watch the entire session, and the segment about Google Pay’s ability to predict and inform you on the best card to use for a purchase starts from the 6-th minute.
Google Pay is getting better and better
During the same developer session, Apana also talked about other features that Google is using to enrich the Google Pay experience. One of the new things is that Google Pay is getting the useful and security-focused Virtual Cards feature. The feature is focused on security and privacy, and it replaces the user’s actual credit card number with a virtual one to protect the user (and the money!) from fraudulent websites. On top of that, the checkout form will be filled in automatically on Chrome (for Android and Desktop), so you don’t have to waste time manually inputting the card number to complete your purchase.
The Virtual Cards feature should be available in users in the US with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Capital One sometime in the summer.
