Summary

  • Google Wallet now automatically adds boarding passes and movie tickets from Gmail confirmation emails, saving users the trouble of manually adding them to the app.
  • A similar feature already existed on Google Pay back in 2019, but this could be Google’s way of reintroducing the functionality for Wallet users.
  • Additionally, users can now manually archive or unarchive their passes in the Google Wallet app.



Google Wallet is the singular destination for viewing all your credit/debit cards, passes, tickets, digital car keys, etc., while also supporting tap-to-pay transactions on your Android smartphone. But there’s always room for improvement, and the service is now making things easier for users by automatically pulling info from Gmail to add boarding passes and movie tickets to Wallet.


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In some good news for frequent users, the latest Google Wallet release notes have confirmed (via Mishaal Rahman) that boarding passes and movie tickets will be automatically added to Wallet using the email confirmation from Gmail. This new functionality “is live for some global movie chains and airlines,” Google said, adding that it will expand to other brands imminently.

In its current form, Google Wallet requires users to manually add details for their movie tickets through the Add to Google Wallet button after checkout at the ticketing partner’s site. For boarding passes, users can open the flight ticket’s PDF confirmation and take a screenshot with the airline’s QR or barcode centered on the screen, per Google’s support page.


At this point, it’s unclear if the new auto-add mechanism will scan the PDF file attached to the confirmation or just the text of the email. But this is a good feature addition nonetheless, and one we feel should never have been removed, but more on that later. It’s worth noting that Apple iOS currently doesn’t support auto-adding passes or tickets to its app (also called Wallet) via emails.

In addition to this new change, Wallet users can now manually archive passes/tickets in the app. This will work on both smartphones and Wear OS smartwatches, Google says, with archived passes moving to an Archived Passes section, previously known as Expired Passes. A 9to5Google report last week touched on this manual archiving functionality in Google Wallet, and it now appears to be more widely available.



Having boarding passes and movie tickets automatically appear on Google Wallet certainly sounds convenient, but it’s not new. Back when Google Pay was still a thing (RIP), the company rolled out auto-imports for “loyalty cards, tickets and offers” via the app’s settings, so this looks more like a repackaged version of the same idea, but for Google Wallet. The service is not unfamiliar with changes and has already witnessed a couple of rebrands, only to go back to the old name in 2022.