Google Pay gets a huge overhaul with a new design and cashback rewards

Google is unifying its global payment apps, as it promised years ago.

What you need to know

• Google today started rolling out an upgrade to the Google Pay app in the U.S..
• This overhaul brings it the design and feature set in line with the Google Pay experience the company just launched in India.
• Google now more clearly highlights rewards, peer-to-peer payments, and support for retailers.

Google today announced a more powerful Google Pay app today. It’s coming first to the U.S., though the company has plans for a worldwide launch.

Pre-empting Google’s announcement, however, was an early access app page gone live prior to the launch that showed off all the new things Google later confirmed (via 9to5Google).

First, the app will be completely redesigned. It’ll match the Google Pay experience that Google ships in India in terms of looks, and it will now more clearly highlight peer-to-peer payment support upfront. This means that you’ll be able to see the friends and family that already use Google Pay, similar to how online-only banking apps like Monzo handle it. As with the old app, Google will show you businesses that can accept Google Pay and other contactless payments, as well as a new page that shows you past transactions.

Aside from that, the updated Google Pay app will let you pay for parking and gas from supported retailers. Google will likely share which ones you can expect this from at its launch event.

Naturally, you’ll find all the usual features in this redesigned Google Pay app. This includes NFC payments, loyalty cards support, and so on.

Cognizant of its reputation when itcab comes to privacy, Google made sure to stress that Google Pay would not be used to target ads to you.

Writing in a blog post, Google’s Caesar Sengupta, General Manager and VP, Payments and Next Billion Users said:

It’s important that your money and private information are safe and in your control. Google Pay alerts you when you might be paying a stranger, protects you with advanced security, and gives you transparency and control to choose the privacy settings that are right for you. You can change these settings at any time.

And when you sign up for Google Pay, you choose whether you’d like to use your transaction history to personalize your experience within the app. That setting is off by default, but you can turn it on or try it for three months to see if you like it. At the end of three months, you can decide if you want to keep it on or off.

Most importantly, Google Pay will never sell your data to third parties or share your transaction history with the rest of Google for targeting ads.

Finally, the Google Pay app is getting one of Google’s controversial new four-color logos. Even if the icon is unfamiliar to you at first, at the very least you’ll be struck by a feeling that this is definitely an app from Google that does something.

As noted above, the new Google Pay app is rolling out first to the U.S.

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