Google is now ready to revive its Google Wallet, and the company was happy to showcase it at Google I/O. However, the tech giant Mountain View also wants to make Google Pay a better option for Android users. 9to5Google reports that during a developer session on Google Pay, the tech giant talked about a potential feature that shows you which credit cards have the best rewards for your purchase.
Google Pay will get smarter in the future
Google certainly doesn’t seem ready with the idea of Google Pay yet. As you may know, the company relaunched Google Pay in 2021 with a focus on money management and the ability to get rewards and cashback on your purchase, but the initiative didn’t go well. That said, Google has set its sights on making Google Pay a better and more competitive option. During the Google Pay session at I/O, Rajiv Apana, a product leader for Google Pay, explained some of the new additions to the app and Wallet’s revival. Among the features discussed during the session were new APIs and tools for developers to use, as well as a glimpse of a future purpose for the app. One nifty feature that sets Google Pay apart is the ability to search your various credit cards and find the one that offers the best reward for the purchase you make at any given time, Apana said. The company is working to include information about points, cashback and purchase predictions as card benefits.
Despite this, there is no information or any indication that Google has decided to go for this feature and include it in its roadmap. However, if the tech giant Mountain View can do that, such credit card rewards would be extremely useful and profitable.
An important thing to mention here is that such credit card reward programs are so useful and profitable if you use them correctly. However, it takes a lot of research and work to do that.
Let’s look at some possible use cases. For example, in the future, Google Pay may ask you to use one card when booking a flight and another for the extended warranty when purchasing a new smartphone. And if Google realizes this feature, it will indeed stand out above alternatives.
At this point, Google has not shared any additional information about the project, and we’ll have to wait and see how it goes. Nevertheless, it is an exciting possibility and it is hoped that Google can make this feature work.
You can watch the entire session in the video below and the segment on Google Pay’s ability to predict and inform you about the best card to use for a purchase starts from the 6th minute.
Google Pay keeps getting better
During the same developer session, Apana also talked about other features that Google uses to enrich the Google Pay experience. One of the new things is that Google Pay is getting the handy and security-focused Virtual Cards feature. The feature focuses on security and privacy, replacing the user’s actual credit card number with a virtual number to protect the user (and money!) from fraudulent websites. In addition, the checkout form is automatically completed in Chrome (for Android and Desktop), so you don’t have to waste time manually entering the card number to complete your purchase.
The Virtual Cards feature should be available sometime in the summer for US users with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Capital One.