Google is retiring the standalone Pay app in the United States. Users have until June 4 to transfer the balance to bank accounts.
Google Pay is a secure mobile wallet that lets users send money to businesses or friends, make online purchases, pay bills, and earn rewards that translate to cash-backs or discounts.
The app has over a billion downloads on Google Play and is used by people across 180 countries on various platforms (Android, Windows, macOS, iOS, ChromeOS).
The tech giant announced that the change affects only the U.S. version of the standalone Google Pay app. The service will remain available with all its regular features, including finding deals and getting cash-back rewards, until June 4, 2024.
After that date, though, peer-to-peer payments through the app will no longer be supported for the U.S. market.
Users that fail to transfer funds out of the app by the time it retires can still do it through the Google Pay website.
U.S.-based users can find detailed instructions on how to move their money out of Google Pay in this guide. Also, more details about the sun-setting process are available on the updated support page.
Google recommends U.S. users to switch to the Wallet app, which the company says is used five times more than Pay in the U.S.
Wallet is designed as a more comprehensive solution that lets users store payment cards as well as other digital items like transit cards, driver’s licenses, state I.D.s, and more.
Google Wallet’s focus extends beyond just payments to include a broader range of digital wallet functionalities, and the tech firm feels it better matches the needs of the U.S. demographic.
Referring to users that rely on Google Pay to send money from the U.S. to India or Singapore through Wise, a financial platform for cross-border payment transfers, Google says that the feature will no longer be available starting June 4.
For these transactions the company recommends doing the transfers using the Wise account.