Google has introduced a cloud-based version of its Google Wallet application that the Internet giant says will support all credit and debit cards from the big four: Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.
As a result, consumers can now use any card when shopping in-store or online with Google Wallet. With the new version, you can also remotely disable your mobile wallet app from your Google Wallet account on the web.
Best of all, using the platform has never been more secure. The Google Wallet app now stores payment cards on “highly secure Google servers,” rather than the storage area on your smartphone.
To save a card to Google Wallet, just enter the number into the mobile app, online wallet, or Google Play when making purchases. When you shop in-store, you can use Google Wallet in conjunction with your selected credit or debit card for purchases… Shortly after making a payment, you’ll see a transaction record on the phone with the merchant name and dollar amount. You can now view a history of all your in-store and online purchases from the online wallet.
“To support all credit and debit cards, we changed our technical approach to storing payment cards,” says Google Wallet Head of Product Management Robin Dua. “The Google Wallet app now stores your payment cards on highly secure Google servers, instead of in the secure storage area on your phone. A wallet ID (virtual card number) is stored in the secure storage area of the phone, and this is used to facilitate transactions at the point of sale. This new approach speeds up the integration process for banks so they can add their cards to the Wallet app in just a few weeks.”
