Google pulling the plug on Wallet Card

Google is giving a break to its Wallet Card, the physical debit cards linked to Google Wallet accounts as it shifts focus to the Google Wallet app. In a blog post, the company said it planned to focus instead on the Google Wallet app, which relaunched last September focused on online peer-to-peer payments.

People who hold a Wallet Card would not be  able to add money to it after 1 May and the cards (and recurring transfers set up with it) would be cancelled on 30 June. Android Pay too would also stop accepting Wallet Card payments.

Google Wallet Cards launched in 2013, before contactless payment services like Android Pay and Apple Pay came on the scene. According to commentators, even at that time, the idea of linking a physical card to a digital wallet seemed somewhat retrogressive. Sarah Perez of TechCrunch had pointed out at the time, the Wallet Card did not work as a ''universal'' card that would replace all the other plastic in users' wallet and was much more useful for Google than users as it allowed the company get yet more data about the spending habits of customers.

Google's decision to turn Wallet into a peer-to-peer payments system for sending money to people knowing only their email address or phone number, not only brought it in line with trends in the digital payments space, but also put it in competition with other similar services, including Venmo, PayPal.me, Square Cash, Facebook Messenger's payments service, and Snapchat's Snapcash.

People who held unactivated Wallet Cards, could still activate the card and use it until the cutoff date. However, it would not be possible to add money to the account with a debit card or bank account. Money, users received from others would be added to any existing balance, and that amount could be used to pay friends or it could be cashed out.

In essence, Google was removing any and all features that allowed its Google Wallet service function the way it had in the past, which made sense, as Android Pay had become the company's new platform for mobile in-store and in-app purchases.