Update Wednesday has gotten off to a slow start, but there's a new Google Wallet version to get things moving. You can now use Wallet to manage your gift cards and request money. As usual, it's US only.
What’s New
- Store gift cards and instantly check your gift card balance
- Request money with the Google Wallet app
- Send money for free using your debit card
- Spanish language support
- Update: Select gift cards will also be used to notify you when you're near an eligible store.
The gift card thing seems pretty neat – you can add any card to the app and produce the code at checkout. For select merchants like Best Buy and AMC, you can get instant updates on gift card balance. Requesting money is new for the Wallet app, but you can do the same thing with Gmail. Just pick a contact and send the request. They can pay you through wallet instantly and if not, the app lets you remind them. It's like the digital equivalent of clearing your throat with your palm out.
Download
The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.
File name: com.google.android.apps.walletnfcrel-2.0-R172-v18-RELEASE.apk.
Version: 2.0-R172-v18 (Android 4.0+).
MD5: dfb792d4d8988d6d3a7b887aeec1fdab.
[Thanks, Kyle Salewski, JR Raphael, Chad Bursiek, and Adam Wright]