Google offers a hell of a lot of services and products these days. In addition to its primary function of being a search company Google also offer the now-infamous Android operating system. In addition, there are the hardware elements like Nexus that Google offer. And if all that was not enough there there are the various software subscription services like Google Play All Access and Newsstand. While the Search and Android are free (you don’t pay directly for it) and the hardware you pay for at the point-of-purchase, the subscription bits can certainly end up costing you a lot. Since the beginning of all the subsections services offered by Google users have always needed to have a credit card on file.
Well that may have changed. Users are reporting that you no longer need to pay for services like All Access using a credit card. Instead, it appears that you can simply pay using Google Play or Google Wallet balances. Its not clear how new this ability is with reports only just starting to be noticed. However, it is somewhat believed that certain Google Play balances such as gift cards could never be used to pay for subscription based content and now they can. So if you are a Google Play All Access subscriber and is sitting on a load of Google Play credit, then this maybe the perfect opportunity to use it and save yourself some real cash in the meantime.
It is also worth noting that if you were one of the original subscribers to All Access then chances are you are still on the reduced $7.99 plan (compared to the now $9.99 plan). If that is the case then it seems your cheaper rate is safe. The same users on reddit are noting that you can change your subscription to Play balance (from credit card) without losing your current rate. However, to do this you do need to unsubscribe and resubscribe. The way to do it without incurring any price change (again according to the forums) is to open the All Access app and open the menu bar (swipe right from the left side). From here click on ‘Subscribe to All Access’, click again on ‘Subscribe’ and then tap on the price (top right corner). At this point you should see ‘Payment Options’ show up at which point you can click on ‘Google Play Balance’. So how does that sound? A lot of people do accumulate Play credits through various promotions and competitions and as such this could be quite beneficial as a free service to those users? If you are one of them then let us know how you get on with the switch.