Google Wallet is updating, here’s which versions of Android it will no longer work on

According to a new supporting document released by Google, from June 10th it will be necessary to have at least Android 9 on phones and Wear OS 2.x on smartwatches to be able to use the Wallet application. Google’s decision to update the minimum operating system requirements is motivated by the lack of security updates for versions prior to Android 9. “To keep Wallet features such as tap-to-pay transactions secure, it is essential to be able to push security updates security to users’ devices,” Google said.

Currently a page of assistance, which has yet to be updated, lists Android 7.0 as the minimum requirement. When Google Wallet launched in 2022, replacing the Google Pay app, the minimum requirement was Android 5.0. As a result, users still using Android Nougat (7.0 and 7.1 from 2016) and Oreo (8.0 and 8.1 from 2017) will be directly affected by this new policy.

Statistics from Android Studio show that, as of October 2023, Android 9 Pie had achieved a cumulative distribution of 86.4%, a sign of widespread adoption among users. Wear OS 2, originally launched based on Android 8.0 Oreo, was subsequently updated to version 9.0 Pie, thus aligning with the new required security standards. The update reflects a continuing trend of Google dropping support for Play services on older versions of Android, as seen in August 2023 with the end of support for Android 4.4 KitKat.