Smartphones have made juggling all the different cards, passes and everything else you’d normally keep in your wallet an absolute breeze. But problems can arise if you try to switch phones, especially if you need to move your transit passes to that new Android phone. Thankfully Google Wallet is about to make that whole process a lot easier (via Android Police).
Having a transit pass stored in Google Wallet allows the “tap to ride” system to kick in. Users can scan their pass and get through ticket gates without ever having to unlock their phone, or mess pulling a physical card or ticket out of their wallet. The problem is those passes can only live on one device at a time — and so far transferring them can be a hassle.
Thankfully Google’s latest update will simplify the whole process. Meaning you don’t need to manually remove a transit pass from one device, and go through the motions of adding it to a new one.
Just remember that you will need to keep your original device active before you can switch the pass over to device number 2. Both devices will also need to be connected to the internet and logged into the same Google account for this to work as well.
Simply head into the Google Wallet and find the transit pass you want to move. Tap the Three dot menu in the top right and choose the option Move card to another device. Tap OK when it asks if you want to deactivate the card. From there you’ll need to open Google Wallet on the new device and tap Transit pass followed by transit agency. You’ll then be given the option to Transfer an existing card to this phone.
You’ll then be given the option to transfer in the original transit card, bringing it to your new phone in far fewer steps than before. Just remember that this only works for transit passes, and that a bunch of things will appear automatically on your new phone.
That includes loyalty and gift cards, event tickets and boarding passes — so long as they’re synced with your Google account. That said, more sensitive things like credit cards, car keys and IDs will still need to be manually transferred.
But at least if you use mass transit regularly, and your local system is supported by Google Wallet, this should make switching devices that little bit easier.
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