A newly updated version of Android Pay seems to be on its way out to users at the moment. This version brings the app up to version 1.35 and with it, brings an improved text copying feature. At present, this seems to be largely only available to membership and loyalty cards, but once updated the app allows for a much greater degree of text copying through support for long-pressing the text to be copied. In a similar way, the long-press action is also now able to copy some less-text based aspects, such as barcodes.
At the moment this seems to be the only clearly noted new feature on offer with the updated version. However, a teardown of the APK from Android Police has revealed a few of the other features that are in the works and will likely be added to the app in due course. The first of which is the ability to support transit cards. While Android Pay can already be used to pay for transit options on a per-journey basis, it seems the app is being readied to support cards used by those who travel often via the same transit option. Which will likely prove beneficial to those who would prefer to use Android Pay but a version which is able to integrate better with their transit membership.
Another feature which seems to be currently in development within Android Pay is support for Notification channels. This is a feature that was introduced along with Android Oreo and since then has been seen to be widening its support for Google apps. For example, both Google Duo and Android Messages received notification channel support over the last couple of months, so it makes sense that Android Pay is one of the next Google apps on the list to see its support being switched on. For those new to Notifications channels, this feature essentially allows for greater control over notifications on a per-app basis. So not only can you switch off notifications for a specific app, but you can opt-in (or out) of specific category notifications, as well as change their importance, how they are received (vibration or otherwise), and so on. Last but not least, the latest version of the APK seems to be showing code traces for a new ‘Doodle promotion.’ Besides the association with Google’s own Doodles, it remains unclear what exactly this promotion is about or why it will benefit the user. As mentioned the updated version of the app is already in the process of rolling out and so chances are good that the update will have already arrived, or be waiting for you.