Following more frequent authentication on Android phones, Google Wallet for Wear OS is requiring PIN code entry before allowing tap-to-pay.
Following more frequent authentication on Android phones, Google Wallet for Wear OS might be requiring PIN code entry before allowing tap-to-pay transactions.
There are only a handful of such reports at the moment, with Wear OS users previously never being prompted to enter a PIN before paying with Google Wallet. They just had to open the watch app and tap.
Chime in below if you’re seeing this change.
We haven’t been able to replicate this today on a Pixel Watch 2 across several transactions, so it could still be rolling out, a test, or just a bug with the app. That said, this change coming after the new phone behavior lends some credence.
Security is clearly the reason for this change, but it feels quite disruptive. The benefit of a watch is that it’s always on you, with Wear OS already being pretty conservative in asking for the PIN if it even thinks the watch has lifted too much off your wrist.
