Google Play services is currently responsible for the transaction notifications you see after using tap-to-pay, but Google Wallet will soon take over that role.
While a “Google Wallet” app exists in the Play Store, a lot of the experience is powered by Play services. This includes notifications, like the ones for “Google Pay” after you make an in-store purchase.
Upon opening the Google Wallet app (on several NFC-less tablets) today, we were prompted by a “Don’t miss important updates” card: “Get notified when you make purchases, receive flight updates, and more.”
After allowing Google Wallet to send notifications, going to the in-app settings page reveals how the previous “Notifications” section (“Review purchases” + “Updates about your passes”) has been replaced with a link to system preferences.
Google Wallet for Android has six notification categories:
- Tips: Get helpful info on how to better use Google Wallet.
- Purchases: See transaction details after you make a purchase.
- Passes: Get updates on your events, flights, and other passes.
- Transit: Stay up-to-date with your transit activity.
- Updates & alerts: Get alerts about payment method issues, digital car keys, and more.
- Promotional campaigns: Get the latest info about promotional campaigns and the associated rewards and progress.
Old vs. new
One benefit of this new approach should let those transaction notifications from your phone appear on Wear OS.
We’re not seeing this prompt to enable Google Wallet notifications on phones just yet, with the company signaling last year that this was coming.
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