The report is based on work-in-progress code that may help predict future features, or that may not make it to a public release, Android Authority said.
The new setting in Google Wallet version 26.43.1009867093 appears to offer the user more control over a feature that currently lets users who have verified themselves within the last few minutes make multiple contactless payments without verifying their identity each time, according to the report.
The new setting allows users to choose to verify each time they pay, immediately before they pay, per the report.
The Android Authority report said, “we’ll have to wait for Google to roll out the feature to see exactly how it changes the payment verification experience.”
Google did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
The 2025 edition of the PYMNTS Intelligence report “How the World Does Digital” found that the convenience of tap to pay helped drive the growth of in-store use of digital wallets from 11% of transactions in 2022 to 21% in 2025.
“What has evolved is the way consumers interact with those [funding] sources, by tapping phones, scanning QR codes or authenticating payments through tokenized credentials instead of by swiping plastic,” the report said.
Google announced in August that Walmart and Sam’s Club shoppers would be able to tap to pay using Google Pay as the retailers roll out that payment method, PYMNTS reported Aug. 21.
Walmart announced the same day that it would begin enabling tap to pay as a payment option at select Walmart and Sam’s Club locations in August and that it planned to roll it out to all U.S. locations by the end of 2026 and to fuel stations by mid-2027.
Stavan Parikh, vice president and general manager, payments at Google, said at the time in a blog post: “Tap to pay using Google Pay is a proven time-saver for in-store shoppers, and now, we’re excited to bring that convenience to Walmart customers.”
