In recent years, Google has made a concerted effort to make its NFC Wallet app more useful, adding support for store loyalty cards, transit cards, prepaid gift cards, and even some digital government IDs where possible. Now, it’s making the system nearly limitless, adding support for almost anything via a photo scan.
This is an obvious and natural inclusion. People often take a photo of a printed boarding pass or event ticket just to have a digital copy. Why not add this feature to an app you already use as a collection of payment and access cards?
Adding something that isn’t supported like a conventional bank or credit card or other form of identification is pretty straightforward. As a test, I pulled up an invitation to a Labor Day barbecue. After snapping a photo of the invitation, the app processed the image for a few seconds and then automatically filled in the event name, date, time, and address.
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
Michael Crider/Foundry
I was then given a very neat digital card with all the relevant information, along with a copy of the photo as a backup just in case. The barbecue doesn’t quite match the concert venue on the digital card, but I guess I can see the connection. The categories automatically identified include business cards, insurance documents, passports, student IDs, vehicle registrations, and voter registration cards. Of course, it’s up to them to decide whether the relevant authorities will accept a document on your phone.
While this part of Wallet isn’t much more than a fancy document scanner, it’s a nice addition to Wallet’s other capabilities for quickly scanning and cataloging your paper passes and small documents. In just a few seconds, you’re getting additional information that’s easily organized and findable. I wish it were added to a larger search tool like Gmail, but I can see why this information would be grouped together in a place like Wallet.
The app update appeared immediately when I downloaded it on my Z Fold 6. According to ZDNet, the feature is only available in the US at the moment. I suspect it should appear everywhere else soon.
