Over the last few weeks, Google Play has been undergoing some major changes. The big one was the release of the new look store which brought with it a vastly different look and feel. However, that is not the only change which has been noted recently. Just under a month ago, reports came through detailing how Google seemed to be introducing new ways to pay for items via the Play Store. One of the features noted was the use of NFC-enabled payments, while another was said to be the ability to gift various Play Store apps, games or other media. On top of those, it was also reported that another feature was the use of a ‘family’ approach, where users will be able to nominate family members to share content. Kind of a way to partially pay towards a bigger stockpile of apps, games and so on.
Well, following on from the idea of partially paying, reports are now starting to come through that Google may be gearing up to activate partial payments for Play Store credit. To be clear, although, you could always pay for digital goods with your Play Store credit, you could only do so if you had enough credit to cover the full cost of the purchase. If you didn’t, then you would be redirected to pay via a different method other than your credit. This seems to be where the change is now occurring. If you try to pay with something with your credit and you do not have enough to cover the payment, it seems the Play Store will allow you to use your balance against the cost and then cover the rest of the cost with another payment method.
It is worth pointing out that at present there has not been any official word on the feature and the reports are not wide enough to suggest a full roll out of the feature has occurred. However, those who have seen the change take effect on their end are noting the feature as working, as you can see in the screenshot provided by one user below.
