Google restricts access to Wallet. It appears that Big G will now expand this security measure to when you launch the application, after implementing the request to confirm your identity a few minutes after unlocking your phone for payments in 2024. Until recently, a warning asking you to confirm your identity before continuing would show up at the top of Google Wallet if you attempted to access it more than three minutes after unlocking your device. In essence, tap-to-pay transactions stopped working after this point and had to be unlocked using a PIN, pattern, password, fingerprint, or facial recognition (Class 3 biometric unlocking).
According to Google’s official statement, “Your payment methods cannot be used unless you verify your identity for security reasons.” You might not need to confirm your identity for a subsequent transaction if you have already done so on your device in the last few minutes. You will have to verify once more for your subsequent transaction after the verification period has ended.
More than just payments Require authentication in Google Wallet.
Here, the Mountain View behemoth is implementing an additional security measure that is presently undergoing testing. Even the app’s main screen, which displays the list of passes and the card carousel, is now inaccessible without prior authentication following the fateful three minutes.
Google Wallet now has a splash screen with the app logo at the top and an authentication sheet that reads “Verify your identity” for the entire system. The new full-screen screen seems to be becoming more popular, though occasionally the old prompt at the top may still show up. This modification was observed in Google Wallet version 25.18 on Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel smartphones.
Security measures have been significantly tightened as a result of this development. It also makes sense given the increasing volume of private data stored in digital wallets, including passports, government identification documents, house, room, and vehicle keys, boarding passes, medical records, and more. Therefore, it makes sense to want to keep anyone who has access to your unlocked phone from seeing the data in your Google Wallet and from making unauthenticated payments.