[HN Gopher] Google Pay app will no longer be available
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       Google Pay app will no longer be available
        
       Author : paulddraper
       Score  : 30 points
       Date   : 2024-02-22 21:34 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (support.google.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (support.google.com)
        
       | KomoD wrote:
       | That title is very misleading, it ONLY impacts the US version
        
         | happymellon wrote:
         | Wait a minute, I thought Google Pay was the android wallet for
         | storing cards to make purchased via tapping your phone/watch.
         | 
         | This talks about having a balance, does Google Pay offer
         | accounts in the US, or am I getting myself mixed up with
         | another product?
         | 
         | [Edit] I don't think I'm getting mixed up.
         | 
         | https://pay.google.com/about/
         | 
         | > Google Pay is the fast, simple way to pay on sites, in apps,
         | and in stores using the cards saved to your Google Account.
         | 
         | Google Wallet appears to expose Google Pay on Android devices,
         | but is just an interface to Google Pay.
         | 
         | It used to be the Google Pay app but was rebranded as Google
         | Wallet. And Google Pay app is something else?
        
           | malermeister wrote:
           | I think the wallet is Google Wallet. Very confusing, I know.
        
             | happymellon wrote:
             | From their website in the UK
             | 
             | https://pay.google.com/about/
             | 
             | --------
             | 
             | Google Pay is the fast, simple way to pay on sites, in
             | apps, and in stores using the cards saved to your Google
             | Account.
             | 
             | :Add a card to Google Pay:
             | 
             | And download Google Wallet to pay with your Android device.
             | 
             | ----
             | 
             | I think Google Wallet is just the Android app to use Google
             | Pay and you use it to save cards *to* Google Pay. They even
             | have a link to "Add a card to Google Pay". Pretty sure a
             | couple of years ago Google Wallet was called Google Pay,
             | but they renamed it. Presumably for whatever service Google
             | Pay App is.
             | 
             | Really confusing. Classic Google.
        
             | bhhaskin wrote:
             | Yeah the split it up. I am pretty sure this is the Vemo
             | like service of being able to send money to other people.
        
               | happymellon wrote:
               | The banking system in the US is so messed up, and Venmo
               | is so hostile.
               | 
               | Here in the UK I can just send people money immediately,
               | and been able to do that for decades.
        
               | KomoD wrote:
               | Same here (Swish), we've got great authentication as well
               | (BankID)
        
               | dboreham wrote:
               | It's deliberately messed up in order to make more profit
               | if you're a bank. UK has proper electronic funds transfer
               | because the culture accepts government telling big
               | business to do stuff for the public benefit. US political
               | corruption and culture precludes that.
        
               | happymellon wrote:
               | I think it's worse than that.
               | 
               | My bank offers a US routing and account number so that
               | Americans can transfer money, since the banks over there
               | struggle with international payments.
               | 
               | I then found out that my in-laws still can't transfer
               | money because their bank has removed the ability to send
               | money to another account that _isn 't_ via Venmo.
               | 
               | It's not "messed up" it's hostile.
        
               | dboreham wrote:
               | Ah the old axiom that you only discover Google offers
               | product X on the day they EOL it.
        
             | duskwuff wrote:
             | The notice on the Wikipedia article for "Google Wallet" is
             | telling:
             | 
             | > _This article is about the mobile app introduced in 2022.
             | For the discontinued service of the same name, see Google
             | Wallet (2011-2018)._
             | 
             | > _" Google Pay (2018-2022)" redirects here. For the 2020
             | app, see Google Pay (mobile app)._
        
           | footpath wrote:
           | There's the Google Pay service that processes payments.
           | 
           | There's the old Google Pay app that got rebranded as Google
           | Wallet.
           | 
           | And then there's a newer Google Pay app available only in the
           | US, Singapore, and India. This is the one getting shutdown.
           | 
           | See also: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Pay
           | 
           | And a very helpful chart:
           | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Googlepayments.svg
        
             | malermeister wrote:
             | Jesus Christ that chart. What is going on over at Google???
        
               | happymellon wrote:
               | Payments are the new chat.
        
       | brutal_chaos_ wrote:
       | FTA:
       | 
       | Can I still use the tap to pay feature in stores?
       | 
       | Anywhere you normally use Google Pay -- from checking out online
       | to tapping and paying in stores -- remains the same. If you use
       | your Android phone to shop in stores where Google Pay is
       | accepted, you can continue to tap to pay in stores with the
       | Google Wallet app.
        
       | impulser_ wrote:
       | So I did some research apparently they have gone full circle now.
       | 
       | It started as Google Wallet renamed to Android Pay then renamed
       | to Google Pay then split into Google Pay and Google Wallet and
       | now back to just Google Wallet.
       | 
       | Google is a fucking mess lol. I know Sundar has been great for
       | shareholder, but man maybe it's time for a change.
       | 
       | A fake post about them getting rid of Gmail next year is going
       | viral on Twitter and you bet people are believing it or double
       | checking because it's Google.
        
         | ignoramous wrote:
         | > _I know Sundar has been great..._
         | 
         | Think the execs responsible for this were excused en masse or
         | quit: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/google-pay-team-
         | repo...
         | 
         | Some founded a fintech company that now also does AI, because
         | why not.
        
         | z2 wrote:
         | I likely lost touch with some friends over the years because of
         | general confusion over Google Talk, GTalk through GMail,
         | Google+ Hangouts, later Hangouts, GChat (which I understand to
         | be separate from the current Google Chat?), and Google Chat.
         | The ones I've kept in contact with all agreed to move back to
         | SMS and email.
         | 
         | Meanwhile ten years after Apple supported adding boarding
         | passes to their wallet, I finally managed to force a plane
         | ticket into my Google wallet by taking a picture of the
         | barcode, so there's that.
        
         | kivlad wrote:
         | It gets worse though, the app actually split into "Google Pay"
         | and the new "GPay", where the latter was originally an India-
         | only app they reworked for the rest of the world. In old Google
         | Pay you'd see messages that it'll stop working soon and that
         | you should migrate to the new GPay, but if you ignored them you
         | could still use it. Then, they eventually overhauled _old_
         | Google Pay back to  "Google Wallet", and now they're telling
         | people in the US remaining on "new" GPay that it's deprecated
         | and to switch back...
         | 
         | Pulled precisely from the Google textbook. Specifically the
         | chapter on Hangouts.
        
         | mey wrote:
         | Well there was Inbox by Gmail at one point, and I feel there
         | was something _else_ that tried to be an alternative to gmail
         | as well at one point. I 'm waiting for YouTube to be split back
         | into YouTube and Google Video, one going full in on
         | TikTok/Shorts content and the other going back to long form
         | content.
        
           | ChrisClark wrote:
           | Google Wave is the other one you're trying to remember.
        
         | Freedom2 wrote:
         | Google's lack of product sense is embedded in their culture.
         | Consider that they consider this [1] a good interview question,
         | then extrapolate that to the rest of their culture and you can
         | see how we've ended up here.
         | 
         | [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35545817
        
       | dcchambers wrote:
       | Google's history with their payment apps/platform is almost as
       | convoluted as their history with message apps/platforms.
       | 
       | I swear they have gone back and forth on Android Pay/Google
       | Wallet/Google Pay a half dozen times.
        
         | paulddraper wrote:
         | You mean Google TalkVoiceWaveBuzzDiscoHangoutsmeetHuddleHangout
         | sAlloDuoHangoutsmeetHangoutschatPhonemessagingChat?
         | 
         | Google does not mess around with adherence to "naming things is
         | hard."
        
       | darth_avocado wrote:
       | Strange that Apple can make Apple pay work so well but Google
       | keeps botching it. If nothing else, just copy the product and
       | build what Apple has built, but for Android.
        
       | mhitza wrote:
       | > Common questions about these changes
       | 
       | Does not include a reason for this change or why is it a US only
       | change.
        
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       (page generated 2024-02-22 23:01 UTC)