Summary
- Google Wallet expands to include supervised digital payments for kids. Parents in select countries (US, UK, Australia, Spain, Poland) can now grant their children access to their credit and debit cards on Android devices, with robust parental controls.
- Key features emphasize parental control and security. These include mandatory parental consent for adding payment cards, transaction notifications, and the ability to manage cards and access through Family Link.
- Children can use the cards for in-store purchases, providing real-world experience, while online purchases are restricted.
Digital payments directly via your smartphone or wearable are a form of convenience like no other. I love not having to carry my wallet around when shopping for groceries, essentials, or when grabbing a quick coffee. But I also remember the days when contactless payments via phones hadn’t really taken off, with primarily cash and/or cards being king back when I was in high school.
Contactless is now the norm, with the likes of Google and Apple’s digital wallets being ubiquitous. Google now wants to extend the convenience, bringing tap-to-pay support for kids — all under the supervision of their parents.
Google Wallet for kids was first revealed back in October 2024, with Google subsequently confirming support in February. At the time, the tech giant said support for kids within Google Wallet would arrive by this spring, and like clockwork, support is now beginning to roll out.
Limited to the US, UK, Australia, Spain, and Poland, at least for now, parents can now grant children access to their credit and debit cards for digital payments. This isn’t the first time Google has extended support for digital payments to empower kids. In August last year, Google rolled out support for GoHenry and Greenlight’s debit cards, allowing parents to add the kid-friendly payment methods to their kids’ Fitbit Ace LTE watch. This time around, however, the integration is directly for Android smartphones, offering accessibility and ease of payments to a much larger subset of users.
Support is set to roll out “over the next few weeks,” with robust parental controls baked in. For starters, children must be part of a parent-managed family account to gain access to digital payments. Additionally, only parents can add payment cards to their child’s Google Wallet app. “Go get your parent,” reads the Google Wallet app when a managed account holder tries to add a new credit/debit card to the app.
Your parent must help you add a payment card to your Google Wallet. Get the physical card and together you can finish setup in a few minutes.
A parent (whoever manages the family account) will have to verify their identity via password, and only then can they add a payment card to their child’s Google Wallet.
Other parental controls include:
- Email notifications for every transaction made.
- Option to review recent tap-to-pay transactions and remove payment card via Family Link.
Your kids will be able to use your card to pay in stores, but they “won’t be able to check out online with Google Pay,” striking a balance between granting them real-world financial experience, all while ensuring that they don’t get caught up in deceptive online scams.
This comes soon after Google Wallet added 11 new US banks to its supported list.
