Author Archives: Android

Helping more families set digital ground rules with Family Link

Parents constantly tell us that they want their kids to experience the best of what tech has to offer–while also developing a healthy relationship with technology. Giving parents the tools they need to make the choices that are right for their families is critical, and we take our role here very seriously. Last year we launched the Family Link app to help parents stay in the loop while their kids are using Android devices. Family Link helps parents keep an eye on screen time, manage the apps their kids can use, and more. Over the coming days, we’ll make Family Link available to more families, on more devices, and in nearly every country in the world.

Family Link can now help parents with teens manage technology

Family Link originally launched for kids under-13, but we’ve heard overwhelmingly from parents that the app is still useful as their kids enter their teen years. This week, parents around the world will be able to use Family Link to supervise their teen’s existing Google Account for the first time (see applicable age for a teen in your country). There are some differences when supervising a teen’s account with Family Link. For example, teens are free to turn off supervision if they choose to, but we let parents know. Ultimately, it’s up to each individual family to have a conversation and decide what’s right for them.

Better Chromebook support for kids and teens

The need for supervision doesn’t end with mobile devices. Now, Family Link is available for Chromebook for kids and teens, allowing parents to manage website restrictions and account settings for their child from their device. Soon, parents will also be able to set screen time limits and manage the apps their child can use on Chromebooks.

Continuing to grow together

With more parents in more places able to use Family Link, we want to hear your thoughts on how we’re doing. If you want to share your ideas with us, just open the Family Link app, click the menu in the top left corner and tap “Help and feedback.”

Source: Android

The search for JOMO: New research on digital wellbeing

As researchers on the Android team, we spend a lot of time out in the world, listening to our users. To do our best work, we leave our passions behind. Objectivity is key. But it’s hard not to develop empathy, especially when you start to notice that not everything about people’s experience with technology is positive.

As early as 2015, we noticed that increasingly, people we talked to were raising a flag about how distracting notifications on mobile devices can be. So we started thinking a lot about the role of notifications on people’s phones, and how we could build a better experience to help people achieve balance. We started with some small changes in Android Nougat, like bundling notifications and making it easier to reply to a message without opening the app.

But we knew there was more that we could do to understand how phones might be making it harder for people to disconnect, and the frustration this was generating. So last year my colleague Safia Baig and I embarked on a research project to do that, and we’ve just published the results.

What we found

Working across different cultures, we conducted our research in the U.S. and Switzerland. We spoke at length with and shadowed for hours at a time 19 participants aged 18-65, using either Android or iOS smartphones. We also analyzed data we had previously collected from 112 participants in China, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, and the U.S. over a period of two years.

Surprisingly, we found few differences across cultures, countries, gender, age groups or types of devices people were using. Across the board, mobile devices loaded with social media, email and news apps, were creating a constant sense of obligation, generating unintended personal stress.

Our research found two reasons why people's relationships with their phones was evolving in this manner. First, there are a lot of engaging things to do with your phone, and it’s hard to break the habit. One person we interviewed said that the phone was far from liberating: “It’s like a prison. You can get lost in your phone and not get out. Social media, gaming, being available [to others] all day… you can’t get away.” Second, people feel that there is a social obligation to reply to messages very quickly, and to be available all the time: “My phone is like a little pet—it goes with me from room to room. I don’t want to miss any messages.”

While people look forward to vacations, one of the few times they are able to disconnect, they also want to be able to choose when to detach: When they have an unplanned or forced disconnection (e.g., leaving their phone at home, running out of battery), they feel anxiety and extreme inconvenience. They lose productivity, they worry about others wondering why they’re not replying to messages, they worry about missing important information—they have a fear of missing out (“FOMO”).

How we can help people find balance

Our research indicates three ways the mobile industry can help people toward a healthy relationship with their phones:

Facilitate disconnection—by giving people information that helps them reflect upon their own usage and digital behaviors, and the tools to disconnect, like the Digital Wellbeing Dashboard in Android 9, and YouTube’s Time Watched profile
Reduce temptation to re-engage, by adding an extra step like the App Timer in Android 9 Pie
Allow for partial disconnection—for example, keeping the essential phone functionalities available, while restricting other applications

app timer — The App Timer in Android 9 is an example of how phones can be built to reduce temptation to re-engage

We’ve begun to make some of these changes across Google products with our Digital Wellbeing effort, which we announced at I/O this year. Digital Wellbeing is a core concept of Android 9 Pie, and we’ve recently introduced more controls across platforms like YouTube. We’re also working on building tools that allow parents to control the type of access their kids have to technology, through Family Link.

A sense of obligation has crept into tech. People want tools to break it. They want to be able to set aside their phone sometimes, not worry about missing anything absolutely urgent, and feel in control of their phone use. We have a responsibility to make that easier—to give people a way to reclaim their time and not feel tied to their devices. But we also believe that we should give people something more—not just more control or a better balanced relationship with technology, but the “joy of missing out,” or “JOMO.”

Technology should improve your life, instead of distracting from it. There’s a lot more work to be done, but the first step toward bringing JOMO into people’s lives is to start listening. This research represents some of our earliest efforts to do that, with much more to come.

Source: Android

Introducing the new Google Fit

There’s a lot of talk out there about how to stay active and healthy: “get your steps in,” “sitting is the new smoking,” “no pain, no gain.” It can feel overwhelming. So we’ve worked with the American Heart Association (AHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to understand the science behind physical activity and help you get the amount and intensity needed to improve your health.

Activity goals to improve your health

The new Google Fit is centered around two simple and smart activity goals based on AHA and WHO’s activity recommendations shown to impact health: Move Minutes and Heart Points.

When it comes to your health, it’s important to move more and sit less. Earn Move Minutes for all of your activity and get motivated to make small, healthy changes throughout your day, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or catching up with a friend over a walk instead of a coffee.

Activities that get your heart pumping harder result in even greater health benefits. Heart Points give you credit for these activities. You’ll score one point for each minute of moderate activity, like picking up the pace while walking your dog, and double points for more intense activities like running or kickboxing. It takes just 30 minutes of brisk walking 5 days a week to reach the AHA and WHO’s recommended amount of physical activity, which is shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, improve sleep, and increase overall mental well-being.

However you move, make it count

When you’re walking, running or biking throughout the day, Google Fit will automatically detect these activities using your phone or watch sensors—like the accelerometer and GPS—to estimate the number of Heart Points you earn. If you’re into a different type of exercise, you can choose other activities like gardening, pilates, rowing or spinning, and Google Fit will calculate the Heart Points and Move Minutes achieved during your workout. Google Fit also integrates with other fitness apps like Strava, Runkeeper, Endomondo and MyFitnessPal, so you get credit for every Move Minute and Heart Point you earn. You’ll get tips and help to adjust your goals over time based on your activity. Your journal will show your activities, achievements and goal progress across all of your apps.

If you already use Google Fit on Android phone or Wear OS by Google watch, you’ll see these changes on your phone or smartwatch beginning this week. If you’re new to Google Fit, learn more at google.com/fit and join us on our way to a healthier and more active life.

Source: Android

Android 9 Pie (Go edition): New features and more options this fall

We believe everyone across the globe should have powerful, high-quality device experiences. That’s why we introduced Android (Go edition) last year, with the goal to provide a fast and smooth experience optimized for first-time and entry-level smartphone owners.

We welcomed our first wave of Android (Go edition) phones this April, and now there are more than 200 devices available in 120+ countries including India, South Africa, U.S., Nigeria and Brazil. We also continued to refine the core operating system and have added a variety of new useful features to apps like Google Go, YouTube Go, Files Go and more.

Whether it comes with a HD or regular VGA screen, 4GB or 8GB or 16GB of storage, or 3G or 4G support, there’s a Go edition device for everyone. In some countries, devices are available for as little as $30 USD. With more than 100 manufacturers planned to release devices before the end of the year, you can expect even more options when choosing your first Go edition device.

Android 9 Pie (Go edition)

With Android (Go edition), we aim to bring the latest Android improvements to more entry-level phone buyers. As part of the release of Android 9 Pie, we’re introducing a brand new Go edition experience. Pie (Go edition) includes:

Up to an additional 500MB of storage available out of the box
Faster device boot times
Top-of-the-line security features like verified boot
A accessible dashboard for tracking and monitoring data consumption

Comparing OOB storage across Pie, Oreo and non Go phones — Android Pie (Go edition) comes with up to an additional 500MB out of the box compared to Oreo (Go edition), and more than twice what you’d find on a non-Go edition phone

Collectively, these features help solve some of the most common pain points for entry-level device owners: storage, performance, data management and security. Keep an eye out for the first devices offering the new Pie (Go edition) experience to hit shelves later this fall.

Go with Google

A core part of the Go edition experience is the fully redesigned set of Google apps, which are specifically built to serve the needs of first-time smartphone owners. These apps include unique features, like free downloading in YouTube Go, that aren’t found in the classic app. Since February we’ve introduced a number of improvements to our suite of apps:

Google Go now offers the ability to read webpages aloud and highlights each word so you can follow along.

YouTube Go makes it easier to enjoy videos while using less data with new features like gallery mode for downloaded content.
Maps Go now features navigation, making it possible for people with Go edition devices or unstable connections to use turn-by-turn directions whether you’re traveling by car, by bus, or on foot.

Files Go, which has saved users ~90TB of space since launch, is now capable of transferring data peer-to-peer, without using mobile data, at speeds up to ~490Mbips.
Assistant Go now supports additional languages including Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Indonesian, and has expanded support for device actions like controlling Bluetooth, camera and flashlight, and added reminders.

Android Messages App for Android (Go edition) is now ~50 percent smaller in size and the Phone App includes caller ID and spam detection.

With a broader range of options and better performing phones, more people can come online for the first time and have access to essential, helpful information. We’re excited to keep the momentum going.

Source: Android

Android has created more choice, not less

If you buy an Android phone, you’re choosing one of the world’s two most popular mobile platforms—one that has expanded the choice of phones available around the world.

Today, the European Commission issued a competition decision against Android, and its business model. The decision ignores the fact that Android phones compete with iOS phones, something that 89 percent of respondents to the Commission’s own market survey confirmed. It also misses just how much choice Android provides to thousands of phone makers and mobile network operators who build and sell Android devices; to millions of app developers around the world who have built their businesses with Android; and billions of consumers who can now afford and use cutting-edge Android smartphones.

Today, because of Android, there are more than 24,000 devices, at every price point, from more than 1,300 different brands, including Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish and Swedish phone makers.

The phones made by these companies are all different, but have one thing in common—the ability to run the same applications. This is possible thanks to simple rules that ensure technical compatibility, no matter what the size or shape of the device. No phone maker is even obliged to sign up to these rules—they can use or modify Android in any way they want, just as Amazon has done with its Fire tablets and TV sticks.

To be successful, open-source platforms have to painstakingly balance the needs of everyone that uses them. History shows that without rules around baseline compatibility, open-source platforms fragment, which hurts users, developers and phone makers. Android’s compatibility rules avoid this, and help make it an attractive long-term proposition for everyone.

Creating flexibility, choice and opportunity

Today, because of Android, a typical phone comes preloaded with as many as 40 apps from multiple developers, not just the company you bought the phone from. If you prefer other apps—or browsers, or search engines—to the preloaded ones, you can easily disable or delete them, and choose other apps instead, including apps made by some of the 1.6 million Europeans who make a living as app developers.

In fact, a typical Android phone user will install around 50 apps themselves. Last year, over 94 billion apps were downloaded globally from our Play app store; browsers such as Opera Mini and Firefox have been downloaded more than 100 million times, UC Browser more than 500 million times.

This is in stark contrast to how things used to be in the 1990s and early 2000s—the dial-up age. Back then, changing the pre-installed applications on your computer, or adding new ones, was technically difficult and time-consuming. The Commission’s Android decision ignores the new breadth of choice and clear evidence about how people use their phones today.

A platform built for the smartphone era

In 2007, we chose to offer Android to phone makers and mobile network operators for free. Of course, there are costs involved in building Android, and Google has invested billions of dollars over the last decade to make Android what it is today. This investment makes sense for us because we can offer phone makers the option of pre-loading a suite of popular Google apps (such as Search, Chrome, Play, Maps and Gmail), some of which generate revenue for us, and all of which help ensure the phone ‘just works’, right out of the box. Phone makers don’t have to include our services; and they’re also free to pre-install competing apps alongside ours. This means that we earn revenue only if our apps are installed, and if people choose to use our apps instead of the rival apps.

Good for partners, good for consumers

The free distribution of the Android platform, and of Google’s suite of applications, is not only efficient for phone makers and operators—it’s of huge benefit for developers and consumers. If phone makers and mobile network operators couldn’t include our apps on their wide range of devices, it would upset the balance of the Android ecosystem. So far, the Android business model has meant that we haven't had to charge phone makers for our technology, or depend on a tightly controlled distribution model.

We’ve always agreed that with size comes responsibility. A healthy, thriving Android ecosystem is in everyone’s interest, and we’ve shown we’re willing to make changes. But we are concerned that today’s decision will upset the careful balance that we have struck with Android, and that it sends a troubling signal in favor of proprietary systems over open platforms.

Rapid innovation, wide choice, and falling prices are classic hallmarks of robust competition and Android has enabled all of them. Today’s decision rejects the business model that supports Android, which has created more choice for everyone, not less. We intend to appeal.

#AndroidWorks

Source: Android

Google for Brazil: Technology that serves people’s needs, wherever they may be

It's a constant challenge to ensure that technology works well for people with different needs around the world, especially where connectivity is limited and basic smartphones are the main gateway to the internet. Today, at our second annual Google for Brazil event in São Paulo, we shared updates on how we're making our products work better for people in Brazil—and elsewhere in the world. We also gave an update on our efforts to make the internet more inclusive, highlighting a new initiative in Brazil to empower women to succeed in a digital world.

New soccer experience on Search

Given Brazil's passion for soccer, we couldn't think of a better place to kick off an enhanced experience for football fans on Search, just in time for the World Cup. For this year's tournament in Russia, fans everywhere will be treated to a new immersive experience that includes group tables, stats, trending players and a host of other features that let you follow matches in real time and see highlights on your phone. For more about all that we've prepared for soccer fans, check out our World Cup post.

Android Oreo (Go edition) coming to Brazil

As an open source platform, Android has helped democratize access to the internet in places like Brazil. But for more people to come online, they need affordable smartphones that offer a smooth experience when browsing the web and using apps. That's why we developed Android Oreo (Go edition), a lighter version of our OS optimized for entry-level devices. Android Oreo (Go edition) is now coming to Brazil on new devices made by our partners Positivo, Multilaser and Alcatel—an important step in our efforts to give more people access to computing.

Brazil elections on Search

2018 is an election year in Brazil, and we want to connect voters with useful and reliable information as they prepare to vote in October. In that spirit, we're planning features on Search that will allow Brazilians to stay up to speed on key dates, the candidates and other critical information about the election. We're also adding the option for presidential candidates to post statements directly on Google about where they stand on key issues. And on election day, you'll be able to keep track of the results on Search.

When the campaign kicks off in August, we'll roll out a Google Trends hub for Brazil that offers an overview of the race through the lens of Search. The hub will be a one-stop shop for data about search interest in candidates and their parties, the most searched questions and other related queries, all in real time.

Eleições - Celular - João Android - Painel do Conhecimento.png

More local Actions on the Assistant

We launched the Google Assistant in Brazilian Portuguese less than a year ago, and Brazil is now among the top three countries in daily active users. Portuguese is also the second most popular language for Assistant usage on smartphones.

Brazilians already use the Assistant to send WhatsApp messages, play music on Spotify, and watch videos on YouTube or Netflix. Now we’re working with more than 30 local partners to bring more Actions to the Assistant. In the next few months, Brazilians will be able to order a pizza with iFood, book a table with Restorando, hail a ride with 99 and do much more by using nothing but their voice.

Enhancing Maps for Brazilians

A new feature on Maps will help Brazilians navigate a São Paulo law that restricts motorists from driving in designated parts of the city during peak traffic hours one day a week. All they need to do is give the last number of their license plate and Maps will provide customized directions to avoid restricted areas.

We’ve also more than doubled the number of Brazilian cities on Maps with real-time transit information, to 15 from six. The list now includes cities like Campinas, Caxias do Sul, Uberaba and Campina Grande.

Art Selfie debuts in Brazil

Remember those fun selfies resembling famous artworks that went viral earlier this year? Well, now the Art Selfie is making its Latin American debut in Brazil. Brazilians can find an artistic match for their selfie in Google Arts & Culture's vast collection, which includes masterpieces from institutions such as São Paulo's Pinacoteca and Rio de Janeiro's Museu Nacional de Belas Artes. Give it a try on the Arts & Culture app.

Grow with Google

Grow with Google offers free training sessions, tools and events to help people grow their skills, career or business. We've taken Grow with Google to four cities in Brazil already, training 17,000 people, and plan to hit four more states by year-end.

Cresça com o Google - Brasília.jpg — A Grow with Google session for 3,000 people in Brasilia in May

Technology can also play a key role in helping to reduce gender inequality. That’s the thinking behind Womenwill, which aims to create economic opportunities for women. We brought Womenwill to Brazil in March, and since then more than 2,500 women have undergone training in leadership, negotiation techniques, personal finance and digital marketing.

While that's a promising start, there is much more to do. Today we announced a Google.org grant of $1 million for Instituto Rede Mulher Empreendedora, a Brazilian nonprofit that promotes and supports entrepreneurship among women. The grant will help them train up to 135,000 women in Brazil over the next two years.

We hope that each of the announcements we made today will have an impact on people's lives in one way or another. And we remain committed to bringing the transformational power of technology to people everywhere.

Source: Android

Now you can add Suica and WAON to Google Pay in Japan

When we brought Android Pay to Japan in 2016, our goal was to create a unique mobile checkout experience that was tailored to Japanese shoppers. Since then, we’ve unified the different ways consumers pay with Google into a single brand: Google Pay. We’ve also updated the app to make paying faster and simpler, promote easy access to offers, and provide one, convenient place to manage e-money and loyalty cards on mobile using your Google Account.

Now, we’re rolling out two new ways to pay that will make checking out online, in stores, and across Japan even easier.

Suica and WAON now available on Google Pay

Starting today, you can add and manage your Suica and WAON cards in Google Pay if you live in Japan and have an Osaifu-Keitai eligible phone. This means four major Japanese prepaid e-money cards—nanaco, Rakuten Edy, Suica and WAON—can all be used with Google Pay. You’ll be able to pay with Google Pay at the hundreds of locations that accept any of these cards, plus pay on transit anywhere Suica is accepted.

The Google Pay app makes organizing and managing all your cards effortless. You can use the app to quickly sign up for e-money cards using the information from your Google Account, check your balances and easily add money with your credit card, and set up low balance alerts so you’re always ready to go. You can also see your recent activity across all of your cards, get customized offers and rewards, and find helpful tips in the app’s Home tab.

And if you use Google Pay for transit, you can check your commuter pass, bullet train, and green ticket details, plus register your Tpoint and dPoint cards and scan them right from the app.

Adding Suica and WAON brings us one step closer to making paying faster and simpler for everyone, everywhere. Keep an eye out for even more features and new ways to pay in the upcoming months, and get the app now to see just how easy paying can be.

Source: Android

Now you can add Suica and WAON to Google Pay in Japan

Now, we’re rolling out two new ways to pay that will make checking out online, in stores, and across Japan even easier.

Suica and WAON now available on Google Pay

And if you use Google Pay for transit, you can check your commuter pass, bullet train, and green ticket details, plus register your Tpoint and dPoint cards and scan them right from the app.

Source: Android

Partnering with the mobile industry to connect people and businesses with RCS

We’ve been partnering with the mobile industry to improve the messaging experience on Android with RCS (Rich Communication Services), bringing more enhanced features to the standard messaging experience on mobile devices. As of today, we are working with 43 carriers and device manufacturers to bring better native messaging to every Android user.

Rich messaging for brands

Last year we created an Early Access Program to make it easier for brands to start participating in RCS business messaging (the mobile industry's term for rich business-to-consumer messages). Today companies across food, travel, retail and delivery services in the U.S. and Mexico are starting to have better conversations with their customers using RCS as part of our Early Access Program.

With RCS, businesses can send more useful and interactive messages to their customers. This means, for example, that a retailer can send beautiful images of their products, rather than a text message, and even let the customer select and buy something, all without leaving the messaging app. Best of all, customers who have already opted in to SMS messages from a business get this upgraded experience automatically in Android Messages.

In the U.S., we’ve collaborated with Sprint to enable campaigns with 1-800 Contacts, 1-800-Flowers.com, Booking.com, SnapTravel and Subway, among others, along with messaging partners 3C, CM.com, Mobivity, OpenMarket, Smooch and Twilio. We’re also working with Telcel to bring campaigns to Mexico soon with 5 Piso, Broxel, DHL Mexico and Secretaria de Salud along with messaging partners Airmovil, Auronix, Aldeamo and Tiaxa.

Booking.com-RCS
Credit: Booking.com
Subway-RCS
Credit: Subway
1-800-Flowers-RCS
Credit: 1-800-Flowers.com
1-800 Contacts-RCS
Credit: 1-800 Contacts
SnapTravel
Credit: SnapTravel
DHL-RCS
Credit: DHL Mexico
SdS-RCS
Credit: Secretaria de Salud

In the coming months alongside our partners, we’ll bring RCS messaging to businesses in more regions. And next week at Mobile World Congress, our partners will demonstrate how businesses can change the way they engage mobile customers using RCS.

RCS messaging growth in 2017 across Europe and Latin America

To help make RCS truly universal and give Android users a consistent and familiar experience with access to all that RCS messaging offers, we’ve been working closely with carriers and device makers around the world.

Over the past year, carriers across Europe, North America and Latin America including America Movil, AT&T in Mexico, Celcom Axiata Berhad, Freedom Mobile, Oi, Telia Company and Telefonica joined Deutsche Telekom, Globe Telecom, Orange, Rogers Communications, Sprint and Telenor Group in their commitment to launch RCS messaging, powered by the Jibe RCS cloud from Google.They will also preload Android Messages as the default messaging app for their subscribers. Vodafone Group RCS service also supports Android Messages and has already launched across 10 of its 14 RCS markets globally. All carriers are committed to interconnecting through the Jibe RCS Hub to bring RCS messaging to users across networks. Collectively, they represent more than 1.8 billion mobile subscribers worldwide.

To bring better default messaging to hundreds of millions of users, device manufacturers including TCL/Alcatel/Blackberry, Transsion, BLU, Positivo, Multilaser, Mobiwire, Azumi, and Essential are joining Huawei, LG, Archos, BQ, Cherry Mobile, Condor, Fly, General Mobile, HMD Global - Home of Nokia Phones, HTC, Kyocera, Lanix, Lava, Micromax, Motorola, MyPhone, QMobile, Sony Mobile, Symphony, Vodafone, Wiko, ZTE, along with Pixel and Android One devices in preloading Android Messages as the the default messaging app on their new devices.

We’re excited to see Android Messages and RCS connect more people and businesses, and look forward to expanding our collaboration with the industry to bring better messaging to every Android user.

Source: Android

Say hello to a better way to pay, by Google

Fast, simple checkout. Easy access to rewards and offers. One spot for purchases, passes, and payment methods. All of these are ways we’ve been working to make paying safer and easier for everyone, everywhere. And you can make the most of these features with the new Google Pay app for Android.

The app, which begins rolling out today, is just one part of everything we’ve got planned. We’re currently working on bringing Google Pay to all Google products, so whether you’re shopping on Chrome or with your Assistant, you’ll have a consistent checkout experience using the cards saved to your Google Account. We’re also working with partners online and in stores, so you’ll see Google Pay on sites, in apps, and at your favorite places around the world.

As we continue to expand to even more devices and services, the new app offers an exciting glimpse of what’s to come. Here’s a closer look.

Helpful info while you shop

Google Pay’s new Home tab gives you the info you need, right when you need it. See your recent purchases, find nearby stores, enjoy easy access to rewards, and get helpful tips.

A new spot for your stuff

The Cards tab is an easy way to keep everything you need at checkout organized and at the ready. It’s where you’ll store your credit and debit cards, loyalty programs, offers, and even that stack of gift cards from last year’s birthday.

A faster way to pay your fare

Use Google Pay on transit in cities such as Kiev, London, and Portland (with more coming soon), and stop worrying about your pass once and for all. Now all you need at the turnstile is the device that’s already in your hand.

Google security and encryption

Like all Google products, Google Pay comes with strong security protections to safeguard your account and personal data from security threats. In other words, it’s got your back.

All your favorite features

Longtime Android Pay fans, fear not: the features you love aren’t going away. You’ll still get all your bank’s perks and protections, plus an extra layer of security, since Google Pay doesn’t share your actual card number when you pay in stores. And those online payment forms that take forever to fill out? Just choose Google Pay at checkout and pay with a few quick clicks instead. Learn more at pay.google.com/about/

And more features are coming. If you live in the U.S. or the UK, you’ll be able to use it to send and request money within the next few months. In the meantime, the Wallet app is now called Google Pay Send, and we’re giving it a fresh coat of paint to go with the Google Pay brand.

Want to accept Google Pay for your app, site or business? If you’re a developer, you can work with our processor partners and find all the tools you need on our developer site. And if you’re a business owner building a site for yourself, we’ve partnered with Shopify to make integration even easier.

Ready to try the Google Pay app? Get it on Google Play today.