Adding cards to Google Wallet could soon be as easy as a tap

Summary

Google is reportedly developing an NFC method to add credit/debit cards to Google Wallet for quicker setup.

The new feature might involve tapping the card on the back of the phone, and entering your card’s CVV or CVC for quick enrollment.

It’s unclear when this feature will be released. Android 16 is around the corner, so it’s possible it could be added with that or in a future feature drop.

Contactless payment methods like

Apple Pay
and

Google Wallet
have made paying for things on the fly much easier and quicker. Now, a new update possibly coming to Google Wallet could expedite the process of setting up a new card even further.

According to Android Authority, Google is working on a new way for users to add their credit and debit cards to Google Wallet that is more convenient. The publication recently discovered unreleased code in the latest Google Play Services beta that suggests Google is working on adding the ability to add new cards using NFC (near-field communication).

What does this mean exactly? This means that in the future, Google could allow users to tap their credit or debit card on the back of their phone to add it to their Google Wallet, rather than having to scan it. So, if you receive a new credit or debit card in the mail, this new NFC feature would make it quicker to add it to your Google Wallet.

Google Wallet

Google Wallet is Google’s digital wallet app for managing credit and debit cards, tickets, student IDS, and more.

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Please make this happen Google

You can already tap your card to add it with Apple Wallet

A person using Apple Pay. — CardMapr.nl / Pocket-lint

CardMapr.nl / Pocket-lint

This new “NFC-based card enrollment” feature will reportedly be found in the same “Add payment method” screen as existing methods, such as scanning your card or manually entering it. It’s possible that it won’t be as simple as just tapping your card and boom, it’s added. It may require the extra step of entering your card’s CVV or CVC for security purposes, which makes sense, in my opinion.

It’s unclear when this feature could be added to Google Wallet or if its part of the upcoming release of

Android 16
, which is due sometime in June. It would be amazing to see this as part of that update, but it’s also possible that it could be added later down the road in a smaller update, like a future Pixel/Android feature drop.

Although this feature is unreleased and only noted in development code, I would be shocked if it doesn’t get released eventually. I’m assuming there are a lot of security concerns at play here, so Google is likely taking its time to get it right and address potential security issues to prevent it from being used fraudulently. Apple already allows you to hold your card near your iPhone to add it to your Apple Wallet, so Google would be playing catch-up in this regard.