Google Pay
More info
- Owner
- Released
- 2018 (Google Wallet 2011)
- Type
- Mobile wallet
- Website
- pay.google.com
Google's payment service for Android and the web, with a naming history longer than most products' lifespans.
Google Wallet launched in the US in September 2011, three years ahead of Apple Pay, and promptly got stuck with the carriers. They wanted their own wallet and locked down the phones' secure elements. Google routed around them with HCE in Android 4.4 in 2013: the card is emulated in software and protected by short-lived network tokens instead of a chip. Almost every Android wallet ended up using the technique.
Then came the names. Android Pay arrived in 2015 and merged with Wallet into Google Pay in 2018. In 2022 Google Wallet came back as the app where the cards live, while Google Pay became the name for the act of paying. If that sounds confusing, you have understood it correctly.