The new app came out of beta last week, and many believe that Google has discontinued a great service and replaced it with a worse, less functional one.
The app will be shutting down in the US on April 5th, and if you want to continue using the new Google Pay, you'll need to find and download an entirely new app. The NFC tap-and-pay won't change once you set up the new app, but the app will no longer use your Google account for P2P payments. You'll need to create a new account. You won't be able to send money to your new contacts until they download the new app and create a new account. Additionally, the website will be removed from all payment features in the US on April 5th, and the new Google Pay won't be able to do anything from the web. You won't be able to transfer money, view payment activity, or check your balance from a browser.
The new Google Pay app seems to repeat all the mistakes the company made with Google Allo, one of Google's most unsuccessful messaging apps.
The new Google Pay, like Allo, doesn't use a user's Google account for payments. Instead, they have to sign up for the new app using phone . None of their existing Google Pay contacts will carry over, and everyone will have to sign up for new accounts with their carrier phone numbers.
The other limitation of SMS -based Google Pay is that a user can only log in to one device at a time, just like with Allo. This is theoretically not a problem for a payments app, but the old version of Google Pay also worked on smartwatches, which it will no longer be able to do.
This move also breaks the synergy between Google Pay tap-and-pay NFC and Google Pay Send-money-to-people. The two servicesnow use completely different login methods: Google Pay NFC in the new app still uses your Google account and will transfer your credit cards.
However, there is a new feature in the new Google Pay. Once you add someone via their phone number, the three options you have are “Pay,” “Request,” and “Message.” The “Message” option will bring up a full messaging app, with the usual replies, notifications, and emoji support, and you can even start a group chat.
