summary
- The Google Wallet app on Wear OS may soon require a user’s PIN for tap-to-pay transactions.
- This comes days after Google admitted to smartphone wallet users that it will re-verify their credentials every few minutes.
- Given the existing protections within Wear OS, this feature will only be a slight inconvenience for frequent users.
The Google Wallet app has undergone several changes over the past few weeks. Last month, the app added an authentication layer for transit payments. Shortly thereafter, Google began asking wallet users on his Android smartphones to reconfirm their identity. 3 minutesRegardless of whether the phone is in use or not. At least based on multiple user reports on Reddit, it looks like this phenomenon may extend to his Wear OS devices as well.
Google Wallet on Wear OS isn’t as useful as you might think
Tap to pay on Wear OS requires two hands
According to a Reddit user (via 9to5Google ), Wear OS smartwatches now require a PIN to initiate tap-to-pay transactions. For security reasons, Wear OS smartwatches like the Pixel Watch series require a PIN to set up Google Wallet. Additionally, every time the user takes off his smartwatch, he will also be asked for his PIN. So, with these safeguards already in place, having the user manually enter his PIN on the wearable’s small screen seems like an extra step that no one asked for.
The person who first revealed the change said they were based in Asia, but several other users said this is a relatively new behavior for Google Wallet on Wear OS. I claim that. Google recently acknowledged that smartphone users will have to revalidate their credentials after a few minutes, which 9to5Google found takes about three minutes. So it’s possible that the Wallet team introduced similar restrictions for Wear OS smartwatches.
Is this a bug?
9to5Google points out that the Google Wallet support page makes no mention of smartwatches, suggesting this new authentication process may not be intentional. Also, don’t forget that Wear OS requires users to open the Wallet app, either through a complication on the watch face or by double-tapping the Digital Crown, to initiate a tap-to-pay transaction.
The 3-minute timer between verification requests on Android phones that I mentioned earlier makes a lot of sense. But introducing this to smartwatches adds an unnecessary step and defeats the whole purpose of having a tap-to-pay device on your wrist. In fact, in many scenarios, it’s much faster to pay with a credit or debit card in your wallet.
