- Google Wallet now has a built -in payment system for children
- Parents can monitor their child’s transactions and enforce boundaries
- The update is rolled out over the next few weeks
Giving your children access to your phone’s wallet can be a sure way to quickly lose your savings, but there are also times when you may want to let them come in, e.g. When they need to use a digital library card. So what can you do to get it right?
Google thinks it has some kind of solution. It has just been announced a new feature to Google Wallet that provides children’s access to limited funds while ensuring that parents are still in control. The feature is rolled out to users in the US, UK, Australia, Spain and Poland “over the next few weeks,” Google says.
According to Google’s press release, parents and guardians can “give their children access to digital payments on their Android device with appropriate supervision.” In practice, this means that “Children can use Google Wallet to safely press to pay in stores and keep supported passports such as event tickets, library cards and gift cards in a practical place.”
The update comes with built -in parental control. “A child’s debit card can only be added with custody,” Google says, “and parents will receive an E email when their child makes a transaction. Parents can also easily track the recent purchases, remove debit cards and turn off access to the right of the family connection.”
Economic independence
This is not the first time Google has implemented a child -friendly payment system with parental control included. For example, in the company’s Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch, children can press to pay for goods, while parents can monitor purchases and reward their young people when it is completed.
Apple also has a similar feature built into Apple Cash. Parents or guardians can see a child’s recent card transactions, choose who they can send money to, receive messages when a payment is made, lock the child’s Apple Cash account and more.
Financial literacy is a great life skill for children to have, so it makes sense to give them some degree of independence here, as Google and others do. The built -in controls need to go somehow to reassure parents, even if each family will have to find out an event that works best for them.
