Google Wallet is receiving a set of small quality of life updates designed to enhance the user experience and make it your go-to digital home for essential passes, tickets, and more. The updates include tighter integration with Gmail to eliminate the extra step of manually adding passes and movie tickets to your wallet.
If you’ve ever purchased a movie ticket or booked a flight online, you’ve likely encountered the inconvenience of having to scramble through your Gmail in order to find the confirmation. Only to find out that the cellular signal is very weak, and your email won’t load. This is a perfect use case for Google Wallet, which Google just announced now directly integrates with Gmail, automatically surfacing movie tickets and boarding passes from participating airlines and movie chains.
Google states that this feature is currently available with select global chains, but that the company is working hard to expand its reach. This will likely save you some time and fuss, as you can now have your tickets and passes readily available in one spot with you need them.
If you ever need to unarchive any of these previous passes, you can do so as well by tapping on the pass and selecting “Unarchive Pass.” Furthermore, the ability to archive passes extends to your Wear OS devices for more efficient organization, no matter where you are.
Google Wallet is further blurring the lines between your digital life and the real world. For US-based users, there’s a new beta feature out: loyalty cards saved in Wallet are now cleverly linked with Google Search and Shopping. This means that your membership benefits can be highlighted as you browse for products online, potentially unlocking special offers and discounts. Businesses interested in taking part in this beta test will need to reach out to Google support in order to enroll.
Lastly, Google Wallet is becoming more accessible around the globe. Back in November, Google Wallet became available to residents of the Dominican Republic, Monaco, and Peru. This means that Google Wallet is now available in 74 countries worldwide for both Android and Wear OS.