Google Wallet not working on your Pixel? 4 ways to fix tap-to-pay

ZDNET’s cardinal takeaways

• Some users are seeing issues with tap-to-pay connected Pixel phones.
• The contented happens to galore users intermittently.
• Restarting your telephone usually fixes things.

If you’ve had occupation utilizing tap-to-pay with your Pixel telephone implicit the past fewer weeks, you’re not alone. 

Since the mediate of past month, users connected Reddit and different enactment forums person been reporting problems utilizing tap-to-pay. In immoderate cases, the diagnostic fails intermittently; successful others, it’s wholly non-functional. The occupation is, you don’t cognize it’s not moving until you’re successful a concern successful which you request it close then.

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Google Wallet’s usefulness has exploded successful caller years, and it present holds everything from your driver’s licence to transit passes to security cards and more. It’s incredibly convenient until times similar this, erstwhile the diagnostic not moving tin origin large problems for your time if you trust connected it. 

Here’s what’s happening and what you tin bash astir it.

How to hole the Pixel’s tap-to-pay problem

The contented appears to beryllium that immoderate Pixel phones aren’t acknowledging there’s an NFC terminal adjacent erstwhile users unfastened Google Wallet, truthful the instrumentality doesn’t transmit the indispensable accusation to implicit the transaction. The Pixel 11 does person a repositioned NFC antenna (toward the apical of the telephone alternatively than successful the middle, arsenic successful the past respective generations), but the bug is affecting a fig of devices, including conscionable astir each telephone from the Pixel 9 bid onward. I saw it connected my ain Pixel 10 Pro.

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It’s not wide if the contented is with Google Wallet oregon the device.

I’ve reached retired to Google, but the institution hasn’t acknowledged the bug yet, truthful there’s nary authoritative fix. Based connected idiosyncratic reports, though, determination are a fewer things you tin effort to get tap-to-pay moving again.

• Restart your phone: Turning your telephone disconnected and connected again is the modular archetypal measurement successful fixing a tech occupation for a reason, and immoderate users accidental a reboot gets tap-to-pay moving again. This isn’t the astir appealing enactment erstwhile you’re lasting successful line, but it does look to beryllium the astir reliable hole for now.
• Back retired to the fastener screen: If you don’t privation to restart your full phone, immoderate users accidental closing the Wallet app, returning to the location screen, and reopening Wallet fixes the issue.
• Clear your Wallet cache: A fewer users reported that clearing the Wallet app’s cache permanently fixed the problem. To bash this, spell to your instrumentality settings, find your app list, unfastened Google Wallet, pat Storage & cache, and pat Clear cache.
• Use your ticker instead: If you person a smartwatch with the Google Wallet app, you should defer to it for a while. Users who are having issues with their telephone study trying their ticker alternatively and having nary problems.

Artie Beaty

Contributing Writer

Artie Beaty is simply a freelance writer, based conscionable extracurricular Charlotte, with a passionateness for astute location tech and tech news. He has a bachelor's successful journalism from UNC Charlotte and has been penning for implicit 15 years. On the weekends you'll find him starring haunted shade tours of uptown Charlotte. See afloat bio