Android 16’s power button Wallet shortcut only works on Pixel 8 and later-released devices

Android 16 finally unlocked functionality that’s been common on Samsung’s One UI for a while now. I’m referring to the ability to customize what a double-press of the power button does, which, with Android 16, finally lets you open your Google Wallet.

The feature is live now on stable Android 16, but there’s a small catch. For reasons not entirely known, the shortcut is only available on Pixel 8 and later-released Pixel devices.

I’m running Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1 on my Pixel 8 and have the shortcut available. However, those running the same build on a Pixel 7 don’t see the wallet shortcut. Instead, as pointed out by credible Android analyst Mishaal Rahman in an Android Authority report, those users only see a toggle to “Quickly open camera” when they navigate to Settings → System → Gestures.

When asked about the missing feature, a Google spokesperson, without giving too much away, said that the feature is rolling out “in the coming weeks to Pixel 8 phones and up with Android 16 outside of India and Russia.” The feature referred to is a new Wallet shortcut UI change, not the double-press functionality itself. However, the UI change is triggered when you double-tap the power button to open Wallet, so the statement essentially does confirm that the shortcut is only available to Pixel 8 and later released devices.

It’s an intentional restriction

So yes, the option to set Google Wallet as your desired double-tap shortcut is exclusive to recent Pixel devices, but there doesn’t seem to be a technical limitation behind that decision.

According to Rahman, the wallet shortcut, on older devices, isn’t hidden by default. Instead, Google has intentionally disabled it to restrict the double-tap shortcut to highlight the camera app only. Why though? That’s not entirely clear. Maybe that’s a way for Google to push sales for its newer devices. Alternatively, it could just be a way to make future Pixel Feature Drops more exciting for owners of Pixel 7 and older devices, especially considering that the Wallet shortcut works as intended when the limitation is manually overridden.