Google announced Google Wallet at I/O 2022 to house all your digital information, right from your debit and credit cards todriver’s licenses and COVID-19 vaccination records. The app also replaced Google Pay in all available countries — the Pay branding itself has remained though, so you can use Wallet to pay for your purchases by tapping your phone against a point-of-sale machine. Now, Google plans to add payment support through QR codes to Wallet in the coming months enabling phones without NFC to make payments.
The feature will launch in Brazil first, allowing Android users to pay through their debit or credit card by scanning a QR code displayed on the payment terminal. Since most smartphones in Brazil do not ship with NFC, adding QR code support for payments will help Wallet expand its reach.
The GPay app available in India already allows users to pay by scanning a QR code. So, Google is essentially bringing a GPay functionality to Wallet, which should hopefully expand to other countries sooner than later.
Google announced this Wallet improvement at the fifth Google for Brazil event. Additionally, it revealed that it is working with Brazil’s state-owned tourism agency Embratur to create YouTube Shorts of the top Brazilian destinations.
The Search experience is also improving for Brazilians, with Google adding easy access to official information about eligibility and enrollment process of social programs like Bolsa-Família and Seguro Desemprego. Further, Google Search and Maps will now show updated and more relevant information from over 40,000 health centers around the country whenever a user searches for “vaccination near me.”
To help Brazilians better prepare for floods and wildfires, Google is updating its Flood Forecasting Tool, which launched in 2022, to show Android users in 80 cities across the country real-time riverine flood alerts.
You can go throughGoogle’s announcementto find more improvements coming to its products in Brazil.
