Google Wallet adds unlimited ID and card tracking with 'everything else'

Google has made a concerted effort to make its NFC Wallet app more useful over the last few years, adding support for store loyalty cards, mass transit passes, prepaid gift cards, and even some digital government IDs where possible. Today it’s making the system nearly unlimited, adding support for more or less anything via a photo scan.

It’s an obvious and natural inclusion. People often take a photo of a printed-out boarding pass or event ticket just to have a digital copy. Why not add that capability to an app you’re already using as a collection of payment and access cards?

Adding in something that isn’t supported as a conventional bank or credit card or some other form of ID is pretty straightforward. As a test run I grabbed an invite to a Labor Day BBQ. After snapping a photo on the invite, the app processed the image for a few seconds, then auto-filled in the event name, date, time, and address.

Michael Crider/Foundry

I was then given a very tidy digital card with all the relevant info, and a copy of the photo for backup just in case. The BBQ doesn’t really fit with the concert venue on the digital card, but I guess I can see the connection. Automatically-identified categories include business cards, insurance documents, passports, student IDs, vehicle registration, and Voter IDs. Of course, whether the relevant authorities will accept a document on your phone is up to them.

While this part of Wallet doesn’t amount to much more than a fancy document scanner, it’s smart to put it alongside the rest of Wallet’s capabilities in quickly scanning and cataloging your paper-style passes and small documents. In just a few seconds it’s added info that’s easily organized and findable. I wish it was added to a larger search tool, like Gmail, but I can see why that info would be cordoned off in someplace like Wallet.

The update to the app appeared right away when I downloaded it to my Z Fold 6. According to ZDNet, the feature is only available in the U.S. at the moment. I’m guessing it should appear everywhere else before too long.