Google loves a good rebrand and Google Pay App Exiting US Market . A classic example is Google Talk becoming Hangouts, then shifting course again to become Google Chat — and earlier this month, we saw it again when Google Bard was renamed to Google Gemini.
The most confusing example has to be Google Wallet, a pioneer in the NFC payments space, which eventually got combined with Android Pay and now Google Pay App Exiting US and rebranded to Google Pay, only to become Google Wallet again for most users, even though Google Pay stuck around in the US, India, and Singapore. Now, Google is throwing another body on the pile and completing the circle.
Google has announced that it is simplifying its mobile payments offerings in the US by sunsetting the Google Pay app, effective June 4, 2024. The company says that you can still access the most popular Google Pay features in the Google Wallet app, but the deals offered by Pay will now need to be found through Google Search.
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Additionally, you will no longer be able to send or request money from friends and family through the Google Pay app after the deadline date, and the company has not announced plans to implement peer-to-peer payment functionality in Google Wallet.
Importantly, users have until June 4 to transfer any funds from Google Pay to a bank, after which the app will stop working. However, if funds remain in your Google Pay account at that point, you’ll still be able to use the Google Pay website to manage and transfer the money. This site will continue to be the home of credit and debit cards attached to your Google account for the foreseeable future.
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Google Wallet is set to remain the go-to platform for mobile payments in the US, according to the company’s latest announcement. This platform enables users to securely store their credit and debit cards for convenient tap-to-pay functionality. Additionally, Google Wallet offers the versatility to save loyalty cards, passes, tickets, digital car keys, and in certain regions, even government IDs.
The decision comes as Google notes a significant preference for Wallet over Pay among users in the US. Before this decision, Wallet usage had been outpacing that of Pay by a notable ratio of five to one. This move underscores Google’s commitment to providing a robust and user-friendly platform for mobile payments, catering to the evolving needs of consumers in the United States.
While this change may sound sudden, it comes after Google had effectively done the same for all markets outside of the US, India, and Singapore, which were the only remaining countries to have access to the Google Pay app prior to this move. Interestingly, Google Wallet is still not available in India — only Google Pay — and there’s been no word on any plans to change this.
