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Google Wallet is working on a confusing new Quick Settings tile (APK teardown)
- While many phones already have the Quick Access Wallet through the system, a native tile for the Wallet app has so for been elusive.
- Normally, OEMs act as gatekeepers to the Quick Access Wallet, but a native tile would shift that balance toward users.
What’s more awkward than forgetting your wallet? Well, how about remembering you can always pay for stuff with your phone, but then awkwardly fumbling (while the checkout line grows behind you) as you try to remember where the heck your payment app lives? Google Wallet looks like it’s working on a little tweak to make the service a bit easier to find on your phone, with the introduction of a native Quick Settings tile.
Now, hold on a moment. A fair number of you probably pulled out your phone just then to double-check, and you’re already drafting an indignant reply in the comments: “Google Wallet already has a Quick Settings tile, my dude. Try and keep up.” Well, it does, but in another, more accurate way, it doesn’t.
The Google Wallet shortcut you’re already familiar with is what’s known as the Quick Access Wallet, and it’s implemented as a system-level feature. And while that normally works so well that many of us never thought twice about it, OEMs have the final say over whether or not your phone offers it. Or you have what’s going on with Google Wallet in India, leading to situations where users can see the Wallet Quick Settings tile, but aren’t able to use it.
Looking through Google Wallet version 24.26.650309275, we find the presence of flags that give the app its own Quick Settings tile, independent from the Quick Access Wallet. One tap jumps you into Wallet, and a long press pulls up app info.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a curious development. While we can sort of see some narrow use cases where this way of doing things could be better than the way we’ve had, it’s also not really like Google to offer a parallel path like this — especially one that seems to override OEM wishes.
Then again, Google’s approach to mobile payments has to easily be one of the most confusing corners of its ecosystem. For as many times as we’ve mixed up Google Pay and Google Wallet, maybe more confusion is just par for the course. Right now, we’ll be very interested to see if Google ever makes this Quick Settings tile public-facing or if it’s just something some devs have been experimenting with.