Google announced on Wednesday that kids with Android phones can now tap to pay at stores using Google Wallet in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, and Poland. Parents and guardians in these countries can now allow their children to access digital payments on their Android devices with supervision.
Kids can also use Google Wallet to access supported passes, like event tickets, library cards, and gift cards.
Google notes that a payment card can only be added with parental consent, and that parents will receive an email whenever their child makes a transaction. Plus, parents can use Family Link, Google’s parental control app, to track their child’s recent purchases, remove payment cards, and turn off access to passes.
It’s worth noting that children will not be able to use Google Wallet to pay for online purchases.
To get started, a child and their parent need to navigate to the Wallet app on the child’s Android phone and tap “Add to Wallet” on the bottom left of their screen. Then, they need to select the “Payment card” option and tap “New credit or debit card.”
The app will then prompt the parent to verify that they are a parent by logging into their Google Account. They can then add a credit or debit card. Once they have done so, the child can start using the Wallet app for in-store purchases.
The launch doesn’t come as a surprise, as Google announced last month that it would be introducing the feature this spring. Google did not comment when asked about its plans to expand the feature to more regions.
With today’s announcement, Google is catching up with Apple, which already allows children to use Apple Pay for in-store purchases through its Apple Cash Family service.
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Consumer News Reporter
Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University.
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