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Android may soon add a new shortcut to launch Google Wallet
- Google is working on a new shortcut that’ll let you launch the default wallet app with a double press of the power button.
- Some code for this feature can be found in the latest Android beta and developer preview builds.
- Currently, double pressing the power button launches the default camera app.
A handy feature on many of the best Android phones is a double-tap power button gesture for quickly launching the camera, perfect for capturing fleeting moments. Some manufacturers let you customize this gesture, but this isn’t currently possible on Google Pixel phones. However, this may change in the future, as Google is developing an option to launch the default wallet app instead of the camera with the double-tap gesture.
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Hidden within the second developer preview of Android 16 is a new configuration named config_walletDoubleTapPowerGestureEnabled. The name implies this configuration will determine whether a double tap of the power button will launch the default wallet app, ie. Google Wallet on Pixel phones. Android 15 made the default wallet app configurable by the user, though, so this gesture should just launch whatever app the user set under Settings > Apps > Default apps > Wallet app.
<bool name="config_walletDoubleTapPowerGestureEnabled">true</bool>Since Android 16 DP2 contains no additional code for this feature, I don’t know how Google plans to implement it. The company could create an entirely new option under Settings > System > Gestures or update the existing “quickly open camera” screen, but we’ll have to dig into future Android builds to find out.
It’s also unclear whether this configuration is intended for phones or another form factor, such as smartwatches. However, given that many Wear OS smartwatches already use a double-tap of the power button to launch the default wallet app, it makes the purpose of this new configuration a bit murky if it’s indeed intended for wearables.
If Google provided the option to launch Google Wallet with a double tap of the power button, would you use it? Let us know in the comments!