Update: It’s confirmed. Google is now sending the below email to users who have a card.
A new app teardown from Android Police today reveals that the Google Wallet card — which was first announced in November 2013 after many rumors of the troubled project being scrapped — is now finally getting the boot effective June 30th. The card assumably never really took off, and it seems that I’m one of the rare few that still has one of these little now-souvenirs…
One of the strings within the Google Wallet app reveals the following tidbit:
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.
Interestingly, the strings go into even further detail about the feature’s removal. While not official, the strings suggest that Google’s plan is to stop allowing transfer of funds to Wallet balances on May 1st, and completely stop all transactions through the card later this year on June 30th. Money that’s still sitting in your Wallet balance can be left there, or as the strings suggest, you can “cash out anytime”.
These strings are found deep within the latest version of the Google Wallet app, but it’s worth noting that they haven’t yet started appearing for users. That means that Google hasn’t yet hit the server-side switch to enable these for those that have a card, which means that plans could indeed change between now and when the retirement of the card is made official.
I ordered my card in late 2013 out of pure curiosity, and if nothing else, my experience is a testament as to why this little product is getting shut down. In the almost three years that I’ve had the card (and hundreds of transactions using Google Wallet), I have used the card exactly zero times. What about you? Have you ever used your Google Wallet card? Let us know in the comments below.
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