Google App Prepares to add Support for making Payments through Google Assistant

Google Assistant is proving to be rather useful with its robust Google services integration. Plus, with the expanding availability of third-party APIs, the platform is shaping up to make for a killer Home Assistant. But the success of Google Assistant does not lie with its more complex functionality, rather it begins and ends with how it can handle the most basic tasks.

Currently, the service lacks the ability to handle to-do lists, reading notifications/texts from your phone, or adding events to your calendar. But from what we can discern from an APK teardown of the latest versions of the Google App, Google's fledgling Home Assistant service seems to be adding one key functionality in the near future: the ability to directly make payments.

Although a teardown can provide valuable information regarding upcoming features, it is entirely possible that these features may not make their way into the final product. Do not take these teardowns as proof that a feature will be added, but rather as a hint of what could be coming.

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Making Payments through Google Assistant

Google App version 6.11.13 beta is now rolling out (which you can grab over at APKMirror), but the strings found below have existed for a few versions before this one. Currently, the only functionality that is available to users can be found in the Google Home app, and as you can see – making payments is not one of them.

But as shown in strings reproduced below, the Google Assistant is preparing to add support for making payments through the service.

Google App Teardown

    <string name="assistant_payments_preference">assistantPayments</string>    <string name="assistant_settings_payments_add_new_address">Add new address</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_address_address_line1">Address line 1</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_address_address_line2">Address line 2 (Optional)</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_address_gate_code">Gate code (Optional)</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_address_gate_code_too_long">Max %1$d characters</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_address_list_title">Delivery address</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_address_phone_number">Phone number</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_address_required_field">Required field</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_address_save_error">Error saving address.</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_device_title">Shared devices</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_done_button_text">Done</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_edit_address">Edit address</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_enabled_title">Pay through your Assistant</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_instrument_item_disabled">Disabled</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_instrument_item_expired">Expired</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_instrument_item_inapplicable">Inapplicable</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_instrument_item_needs_fix">Needs fix</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_instrument_item_unknown">Unknown</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_instrument_list_title">Payment method</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_oos_screen_description">Need help? Contact the Google Support Team for assistance</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_oos_screen_title">"Payments isn't currently available on the Google Assistant"</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_save_button_text">Save</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_setup_accept_button_label">Accept</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_setup_device_description_p1">"You'll soon be able to pay for things when you use Google Assistant, including on the following shared devices."</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_setup_device_description_p2">Customize which of your shared devices are allowed to help you with payments and other personal tasks, like your calendar and services. You can also turn "Personal results" on or off later in your Assistant settings. <a href="http://ift.tt/2iumv2f">Learn more</a></string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_setup_devices_title">Confirm shared devices</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_setup_instrument_list_title">Choose card</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_setup_next_button_label">Next</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_setup_shipping_address_title">Choose address</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_setup_splash_screen_button_label">Get started</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_setup_splash_screen_subtitle">Set up payment info and addresses for your packages, groceries, and other purchases</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_setup_splash_screen_title">Set up payment &amp; delivery info</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_setup_terms_of_service_title">Terms of Service</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_summary">Manage payment methods and addresses</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_title">Payments</string>  <string name="assistant_settings_payments_update_error">Error while updating payments settings. Please try again.</string>    <string name="common_device_personal_info_permission_summary">Allow this Google Home to read out your private info like your calendar and flights, display your photos on TV, and help you with orders, reservations, and payments</string>    

The string "you'll soon be able to pay for things" when you use Google Assistant indicates the service is not yet live (as none of us using Assistant have found evidence of the service being live), but it soon will be. Plus, you'll be able to specify which Assistant-connected devices will be able to participate in making payments.

In order to make payments, of course, you need to specify what specify a delivery address for your items. Billing is of course handled through Google's APIs for adding payment methods. It'll be interesting to see exactly how this functionality will work – but we're hoping it will work as well as Amazon's Alexa when placing orders through voice.

We have also found evidence that this functionality is at least partially implemented in the APK file, as we have found numerous references to layout files that set up the payment interface. It is possible that the functionality is baked in, but Google is still working on the back end to make the service work before rolling it out to everybody.

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