Android and iPhone users may jealously protect their phone platform of choice, but secretly, both camps know there are some features the other phones have that theirs do not. Google is now, it seems, addressing one place it underperforms, by improving Google Wallet so it can be better at something the iPhone does brilliantly: digital tickets and boarding passes.
Google Wallet just got a lot more like Apple Wallet. Both Apple Wallet and the equivalent on Android phones, Google Wallet, are good when it comes to housing digital versions of credit and debit cards. But the iPhone version has always been stronger for passes—it’s no coincidence that it originally used to be called Passbook.
Because it’s done this for longer, apps for airlines, theaters, concert halls and others routinely include a button designed to add them to the Wallet where they’re easily found. It now looks like the passes that slide so easily into the iPhone Wallet app could pop into Google Wallet just as smoothly.
Android writer posted that files in the .pkpass format used by Apple can now be imported into Google Wallet. Other users have confirmed that they have been able to do the same, though this doesn’t seem to have rolled out to everyone yet.
When it is more widespread, this will be a significant uptick in convenience. Those websites and apps with buttons inviting users to click to add passes to Apple Wallet all too often did not include an equivalent for downloading to Google Wallet.
For a few years, Google didn't have its own digital ticket system, so whereas users can now download cinema and train tickets in the Google wallet format, it used to be the only option was the apple pkpass format. And there are still some places that only offer the apple digital ticket format as it's been around significantly longer.
With Google offering the same compatibility, Android users should be able to click on the same Apple Wallet link and add the pass to their Android phone. There have been third-party apps which could have the same effect, but an official way to do it with Google is welcome.
What’s not yet clear is if Google will be able to offer the same versatility as Apple, where you can update a boarding pass if your airplane seat changes, for instance.
