What Google Pay will be like: what the Google team has changed and how the average customer will be affected

Google Pay replaced Android Pay, which in turn was released in 2015 based on Google Wallet. The online payment system enabling users to make payments with the various devices already has a great history, and recently — or more precisely on November, 18 — the service was relaunched and updated to an all-encompassing financial product for both iOS and Android. Google Pay is an important market player and a strong competitor to such popular services as Apple Pay, GarminPay, Samsung Pay, etc. And even though the new version of the app is currently available only in the US, the latest team experience is very interesting to get acquainted with. And, of course, it’s interesting to gain insight into new and old but updated features of the application.

What’s interesting about the new Google Pay

The new version of the application includes three main tabs: Explore, Pay, Insights.

The “Pay” section is central and includes updated, but earlier existing Google Pay services — tap-to-pay and peer-to-peer. Now P2P transfers are carried out through a chat-like system, where you can not only chat and track the payment history with a certain person, but also create group chats in which you can split a bill with friends and track who has or hasn’t paid their share.By the way, this is a good alternative to neobanks in messengers, which I wrote about in one of my blogs. Also, it became possible to track your private activity with a particular business also in a chat-like way. There you have special offers and payment history. You can also now find the restaurant or gas station you need right in the application and pay the bill.

In the “Explore” tab, you can find information about deals and special offers from merchants. In order to customize the offers that appear, Google’s algorithms need to analyze the transactions history. And here appears the data security issue, which has become very important for many users. However, Google guarantees that it will not share any data with third parties or with the rest of Google.

Also, the cashback will go into a Google Pay account, rather than to the linked bank account. This tab also includes a QR and barcode scanner. It enables users to scan each other’s personal barcode, that is enough to send money to one another. Or a person can scan a product and search for it in different stores.

The “Insights” tab provides a lightweight version of the Mint and Simplifi apps. So this tab presents much of the user’s financial information. After a person connects the banking accounts, the section will begin to show reports of his or her expenses, savings and upcoming bills by processing data through smart algorithms. Analytics is an important point in money management.

What will change for 150+ mln active Google Pay users worldwide

This financial instrument is truly a flexible and convenient tool. The implemented solutions simplify the funds management in today’s fast pace of life. If you chose to experience all its features, you will have access to a rich set of well-integrated features which will allow you to look at your expenses and savings from different sides.

Yes, that way you trust Google to store more data about you. But if you pay for purchases through Google Pay in stores, then you have already trusted them all the card details. The answer to the question of whether a user will use any of the Google Pay new features depends on whether the customer trusts Google, whether a person is concerned about the privacy and the monetization of such products. However, in this version, the Google Pay team gave users a series of privacy prompts and settings options, and presented the option to agree to a special three-month “trial” of allowing Google to analyze a person’s transaction history with constant reminders about the collecting data in order to gain users’ trust.

One Google Pay application includes now several fintech solutions. The created product scope satisfies an important need for today — sound money management. Google is successfully promoting this product.