Earlier today, Samsung announced that they were updating their popular mobile payment option, Samsung Pay, with the ability to use, store and buy gift cards. A feature which adds to the already feature-heavy and new application. Well, it seems Samsung are not the only ones to be updating a payment app this week as Google has also announced an update too. Although, their update is not heading to the newer Android Pay but instead, the Google staple, Google Wallet. This was an app which many had wondered whether it would exist once Android Pay came through, although since then, Google has been pushing out a number of useful updates. The last of which came through about a month ago and introduced a new lock button and multi-account support.
The main feature coming with this latest update is a simple one, but also an extremely useful one. After updating, Wallet will now allow users to pay people (or just send money) using only their phone number. Prior to the update, those using Google Wallet to send funds, did need to make use of an email address to be able to send money. So while this is only a minor change, it is one which will be of benefit for those that do have phone numbers for people, but not their email addresses.
Going further into the details and the use of the Phone number as a means of receiving funds seems to be one which has some added benefits. If someone does send you money through the newly updated app, you will not need to have the Wallet app installed on your device to receive the funds. Once payment is sent, the recipient will receive a text message advising of the transfer and a link. When clicked through, the link will offer the person the option to enter their card details and have the money transferred directly to their account. Therefore, if you are a regular user of Wallet, you will now be able to literally send money to anyone in your contacts. In terms of the actual update, Google notes it will begin heading out in the next few days.