- Android 16 introduced real-time notifications called Live Updates
- These alerts will soon be supported by Google Wallet
- You will have easier access to information about the trips you take
Android 16 introduced Live Updates, a new type of real-time notification to keep you up to date with sports scores, travel information and deliveries, much like Live Activities on iOS – and now Google Wallet is updated to support this feature.
As noted in the latest release notes (spotted by 9to5Google), Google Wallet will now show live updates for “key trips that include flights, train travel, and events.” Note, however, that this is part of a Google Play Services update, and these may take a few weeks or even months to reach everyone.
To use this feature, you must have a type of ticket stored in your Google Wallet, such as a boarding pass for a flight or a ticket for a train trip. The application will then extract the necessary information in real time from the ticket.
This will probably be useful to many users. You might see an update showing the progress of your flight to its destination, for example, or an alert about a delay to your train – but we haven’t seen it in action yet, so we’re not sure what kind of notifications might appear.
Slow adoption
As is normally the case, it takes a while for the various apps Google creates for Android to use all the different features enabled by Android 16. Only recently did Google Wallet receive the latest Material 3 Expressive redesign, for example.
Other Google Wallet updates with this latest Google Play Services patch let you add cards through supported issuer apps without re-entering your details – for a smoother transfer – and notifications when loyalty passes are imported from Gmail (on Android 12 or later).
When it comes to over-the-air updates, app developers haven’t been in much of a hurry to add support for this feature. It’s at least enabled on Google Maps, where it gives you a better idea of navigation routes when you’re busy in other apps or your phone is locked.
Hopefully, these persistent notifications will be more widely adopted in the future, as they have the potential to save time and add convenience. Of course, Android has long been able to display live information in a notification, but Live Updates makes these alerts more obvious on Android.
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