Google Pay is Google's answer to have a broad mobile payment option and it has been around for a long time now, but today, it is getting a major overhaul, and something that I believe is much needed.
Google has announced that they are going to rework the Google Pay app. It's going beyond what is usually used to offer, and going to offer a lot of new features. Google is also giving us a fresh coat of paint on both Android and iOS. The new Google Pay is launching in the U.S. first, and as per Google, the new design is based around "your relationships with people and businesses".
Google Reinvents Google Pay and Introduces a New Interface Along With New Features
For starters, the app is going to handle a lot of the financial aspects for the users. You will be able to make contactless payments with your saved cards, and you will be able to send money to friends and money with peer-to-peer transfers. However, the new app will also let you see the insights, which means that the app can now help you see how you spend your money, and it will also use some ways to help you save money. The new app will also offer different layers of security which will ensure that your money remains as safe as possible.
In addition to that, we are also getting a new user interface, and the way people interact with businesses and individuals. This is how it is going to look like.
This is what Google had to say about their new interface.
Instead of showing a stack of cards or a long list of transactions, the new Google Pay app focuses on the friends and businesses you transact with most frequently. You can pay, see past transactions and find offers and loyalty info—all organized around conversations.
If you need to split dinner, rent or other expenses with more than one person, you can create a group, split the bill, and keep track of who’s paid in a single place. Google Pay will even help you do the math on who owes what.
You can also use Google Pay to order food at over 100,000 restaurants, buy gas at over 30,000 gas stations and pay for parking in over 400 cities, all from within the app—and more easy ways to pay are coming soon.
Google is not only stopping with a new interface as they have announced a new option that will help you save money, as well. You will now be able to redeem available offers from an assortment of businesses. Google Pay will handle applying any discounts to places you shop at so you don't have to worry about doing it again or simply forgetting about it. Brands like Burger King, REI Co-Cop, Target, and more will be available to choose from within the app.
If you choose to connect your bank account or cards to Google Pay, the app will provide periodic spending summaries and show your trends and insights over time—giving you a clearer view of your finances.
Google Pay can also understand and automatically organize your spending. This lets you search across your transactions in new ways. For example, you can search for “food,” “last month,” or “Mexican restaurants” and Google Pay will instantly find the relevant transactions.
In addition to that, Google is also working on improving privacy and security. Making sure that the money is safe in your account is important, that is why Google is making use of advanced security. The app is going to inform you when it thinks that you are paying to strangers. Users will be able to select from a range of privacy settings to truly tailor their experience.
And when you sign up for Google Pay, you choose whether you’d like to use your transaction history to personalize your experience within the app. That setting is off by default, but you can turn it on or try it for three months to see if you like it. At the end of three months, you can decide if you want to keep it on or off.
Google says that it is not going to sell the user's data to third parties either. Moving on, Google is also talking about Plex, the company's first online-first banking initiative. Google is working with several financial institutes to get Plex up and running sometime next year. It will be integrated straight into the Google Pay app and accounts will be offered by different banks as well as credit unions. Users can expect no overdraft charges, no monthly fees, and no minimum balance requirements. Below are the banks that will be working with Google right from the start.
- Citi
- Stanford Federal Credit Union
- SEFCU
- Seattle Bank
- The Harbor Bank of Maryland
- BankMobile
- BMO
- First Independence Bank
- Green Dot
- BBVA
- Coastal Community Bank
This new venture is going to start going into effect next year. While the new Google Pay app is available on both iOS and Android starting today.
