The internet is all sort of pissed off at a recent discovery made by the crew over at AndroidPolice. In a recent APK tear down of the Google Wallet app it has been unearthed that the physical card side of wallet will be shutting down on June 30th. The text string that alludes to this is pretty darn clear, but is not active in the app, just yet at least.
The relevant text states that “As of June 30, Google Wallet will no longer support the Wallet Card. You’ll still be able to use Google Wallet to send and receive money and we’re working to make those features better than ever. If you have money in your Wallet Balance, you can keep it in Wallet or cash out anytime.” There are other strings that say the Wallet Card will stop working soon, and Card will only work until June 30th. Obviously these messages will appear in different parts of the app for various reasons.
Apparently all operations will continue as normal through May 1st, such as ordering cards and adding money to them, once the 1st rolls around those options and abilities will cease to be a function. The text also states that you can withdraw the funds in the wallet account at any point going forward.
Obviously we can’t say this is all set in stone and that there is no hope for the future of the Wallet card as there hasn’t been an official statement leading to its demise, yet. It could be a sly way to test the users love for the option and save it from being cut. I’d bank more on it being in the pipeline with an official announcement landing sometime in the beginning of next month though.
This is particularly sad news for those of us that use the cards often. I for one use them as a means to pay my kids their allowance as it is easy to toss funds on and I get an alert as soon as they spend any money. I also use them for trips so that limits can be managed and because I know that any given moment I can shut them off. I imagine Google is pulling the plug since there are no fees to collect to profit from offering the service paired with the increasing push towards NFC tap to pay options from Android Pay and Samsung Pay, but removal of the physical card will certainly be a missed addition to my Google life as tap and pay options just are as common place as many of them like to think they are.
Are you a Google Wallet Card user? How will your shopping and spending habits be altered because of the changes?
Source: AndroidPolice
