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How to create and use virtual payment cards on Android
A safer and smarter replacement for your physical cards
Google's virtual card feature is a safer way to make payments, both in-app and online. When you use this feature, a unique virtual card number replaces your physical card number. This way, when you check out, your actual payment details remain undisclosed, protecting against fraud and identity theft. Keep reading to learn how to create and use virtual cards on your go-to Chromebook or PC and phone.
Google Pay could show which of your credit cards offer the best rewards when checking out
The change would make it super easy to get the best rewards, if it happens
Credit cards can be fantastic for things like travel or buying stuff from specific retailers given the rewards, rates they sometimes offer. But keeping track of which card is ideal for which purchase can be obnoxious with things like rotating categories and benefits changes. Nothing is set in stone yet, but Google says it wants to change that someday, showing customers which cards are best for a given purchase through Google Pay.
Amex Platinum cardholders now get phone damage and theft protection, but there's a lot of fine print
You'd hope that annual fee would go towards something you'd use
American Express credit cards are known for its high bar of entry and exceptional service with all sorts of programs and rewards to take advantage of. Now, some cardholders are able to add one more benefit to the list: cellphone insurance.
Android 11 will make password autofill much better thanks to keyboard integration
No more wonky, disappearing drop-down menus
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Android has offered native autofill since Android 9 Pie, but despite that being an official method, actually filling out passwords and addresses is sometimes wonky, and phones often need a few seconds to recognize password entry fields. Google wants to improve that experience with Android 11 and has introduced a new autofill method that integrates with your keyboard, be it Gboard or a third-party app.
For those who juggle around a lot of credit and debit cards, keeping track of them can be tedious. Google Pay, for instance, only showed the company name and the last four digits of the card — until now. Much to our (read: big boss Artem's) pleasure, Google Pay has finally added the ability to assign names to your cards.
Samsung users tend to love Samsung Pay. And for good reason: the technology that powers the service allows users to pay for things with their phones even when NFC isn't available. A recent update is making it more convenient to use where NFC is available, though. Now, when your Samsung Pay-compatible phone is awake near an NFC terminal, your Favorite Cards will open automatically.
At the moment, it's possible to sync the payment cards you have in Google Pay with Chrome's autofill feature. This is incredibly handy for when you make purchases online, especially on sites that don't have Google Pay as a payment option. Unfortunately, it's not possible to sync your data the other way, from Chrome to Pay, but it looks like that functionality will be added in the near future.
Tired of paying your Amazon Store Card bill by hand like a cave person? A new Alexa skill lets you manage your account—performing tasks like checking your balance, reviewing recent transactions, and paying your bill—by talking to your Echo device or app.
A new feature has cropped up in the Google Express app: the ability to tap NFC-enabled credit cards to phones to add them as payment methods. Doing so will automatically populate the card number and expiration date fields, but you’ll still have to add the security code manually.
Google announced earlier today that it's taking the plunge with the Google Pay branding, meaning the Android Pay and Google Wallet names and branding are officially canned. To go along with the shift, a new version of the Android Pay...err, Google Pay app is rolling out with an updated look. It's going to take a little while to get used to that name. There are also some clues about what's to come, but we'll get to that in the teardown.
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- We're also hearing from a reddit thread that Fifth Third Bank and some local banks are no longer compatible with Android Pay.
Last year around this time, Google announced that unsupported cards already in Google Wallet accounts would be able to be used with Android Pay, but only for a limited time. Problem was, we didn't exactly know how long Google's "limited time" would be. Thanks to a ton of emails that were sent out to Android Pay users with unsupported cards today, we now have an actual date: October 14th, 2016.
We here in the States aren't always quick to adopt new technology (or in this case, new-ish). Take those little security chips embedded in credit cards. Yeah, we're only just now getting around to using those. Banks are starting to send them out, and retailers are having to update their machines.
Samsung presentations always include a litany of buzzwords and redundant features, some of which are meaningless or borrowed directly from Google and Android, while others point to bigger aspirations. Today's announcement for the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge introduced a new feature called Samsung Pay, a direct competitor to Google Wallet and Apple Pay. Even though this is just one more product that attempts to have consumers replace their credit cards with a phone, it carries a distinct advantage over NFC-based alternatives: it also works with traditional credit card readers.
For some reason, plenty of us just hate carrying credit cards around, and we cannot wait for the day when we're free from this burden. I can see our ancestors now, wondering what the fuss is all about. Not too long ago, you balanced your checkbook and you liked it. Before that, there wasn't a way to avoid walking around with a wallet stuffed with cash and a pocket loaded with coins. Even that was an advancement over leading around a pig you were looking to trade. But now we have LoopWallet, an app and accessory that, together, can replace credit cards at most locations. And unlike NFC or the upcoming Coin card, it both already exists and works with most cash registers.
Wallaby has come to Google Glass, and while it won't save wearers any money in the short-term, it wants to help them rack up those rewards. What kind of rewards? Credit card rewards. Wallaby tells you what credit card will earn you back the most miles, points, or shopping discounts whenever you spend money. It's been available for Android for quite a while, but now the service has made its way over to Glass, where, since it's practically glued to your face, you're less likely to forget about it.