Google Pay: Now a Full-Fledged Financial Service

Google today announced a major relaunch of Google Pay—which formerly was a relatively simple tap-to-pay app but will now be a complete financial service competing with the likes of Venmo, Mint, Apple Pay, and even some banks. The new Pay is available as an Early Access app in the Google Play store as of this afternoon, alongside the original and much less ambitious Google Pay—which is now tagged as "old version."

In addition to the simple tap-to-pay features offered in the previous app, users of the new Google Pay can directly link bank accounts and credit cards to the app. This allows for AI-driven insights into spending and saving, replacing much of the functionality of your own bank's online banking app with Google Pay, and more.

We can already hear readers screaming about the privacy implications of allowing Google directly into your banking, credit card, and payment histories—and we don't really blame you. Google clearly heard those cries coming as well and seems to be doing what it can to allay those concerns.

During the mandatory privacy preference section of the Google Pay setup process, the app assures you that personal info gathered in Pay will never be sold to a third party. It also pledges that your Pay transactions are not shared with any other Google services—so, for example, purchasing a pair of shoes with Google Pay shouldn't result in a sudden onslaught of Nike and Adidas ads while watching YouTube videos later.

If allowed, Google Pay can use your transaction history to more effectively select what cash-back and similar offers to present you with in the Explore and Discover areas of the app. The setting is optional, and it's opt-in—you have to actually grant Google permission before it will use your data to serve offers inside the app. In addition to the simple "yes you may" and "oh heck no" options, there's a more cautious "try it for three months"—if selected, Google will offer you targeted offers for now but prompt you to review your decision after you've had a few months to stew about it.

Finally, you have the option to "help friends find and pay you"—which, for our older readers, is largely similar to the old days of publicly listed or private telephone numbers. If you turn this setting on, entering your phone number will pop up your name and face, populated from your Google profile—and users who already have you as Google contacts (e.g., in their phone's address book) can find you directly in Pay that way as well. If you disable it, you can still accept payments—but your friends will need to be extra careful not to bobble your number when entering it since they won't get a confirmation that you're you.

App overview

The new Google Pay offers three major feature groupings, organized into view icons at the bottom of the app:

• Explore (...)
• Pay (...)
• Insights (...)

by Jim Salter, Ars Technica |  Read more:

Image: Google

[ed. See also: Google Pay's massive relaunch makes it an all-encompassing money app (Verge).]