Google's Wallet app available for some in India before official launch

Google's on-device digital storage app Wallet is now available for download for some users in India. However, the company has clarified that it is yet to officially launch the service in India.

The Wallet app lets users store payment cards, flight and event tickets, transit passes, vaccination cards, loyalty and gift cards, digital car keys, and campus IDs.

Screenshots on the app description page suggest that users will be able to store boarding passes for Air India flights, track and access reward points for State Bank of India's Rewardz loyalty programme, and store movie tickets purchased from PVR.

“While we don’t have anything new to share right now, we're always working to bring more convenience to people’s digital experiences in India. We’re continuing to invest in the Google Pay app to give people easy, secure access to digital payments.” A Google spokesperson said in a statement.

Payments are routed through Google's existing offering Google Pay, which is slated to remain a separate app, focused on payments.

Several users on social media platform X have reported being able to download the wallet app on their Android devices.

Google Wallet was first launched on September 19, 2011, as a mobile payment system in the US and was later succeeded by Android Pay in 2015.

In 2018, Google announced a merger between Google Wallet and Android Pay, creating Google Pay, which became the primary "wallet" for Android users, combining features from both services. However, in 2022, Google reintroduced Google Wallet as a separate app that allows users to store payments and other cards online.