Google Wallet’s latest update brings expression to your digital card collection

The much-awaited Material 3 Expressive redesign of the Google Wallet app is finally rolling out to a broader set of Android users, as reported by 9to5Google. Arriving as a server-side update, the interface refresh appears to be linked to version 25.38 of Google Wallet, which is available now to download and install from the Google Play Store.

Material 3 Expressive brings a subtle set of UI improvements to the Google Wallet experience, including a new ‘+’ action button that replaces the previous ‘Add to Wallet’ one, the replacing of the ‘Wallet’ text with the official logo in the top left-hand corner of the screen, and Dynamic Color unifying the previously multicolored stack of card entries.

Additionally, there’s a slight reordering and visual refresh of the Wallet settings page, improved visibility of previously completed transactions, and a new animation that plays whenever an NFC payment is successfully conducted.

We’ve known about these upcoming changes to Google Wallet since around June of this year, when a soft rollout began for a small subset of Android users running the app (via 9to5Google). Now, within the next couple of days, everyone running the latest version of the software should have access to the new app experience.

Your virtual wallet doesn’t have to look drab

I’ll take a Material 3 Expressive every day of the week

I’m a big fan of Material 3 Expressive, with its playful animations, its new blurry background effects, and its richer set of dynamically adjusting color tones. As expected, this new, expressive coat of paint breaths new life into the Google Wallet app, turning what would otherwise be a rather drab interface into one that’s visually pleasing and fun to interact with.

I’m not sure why it’s taken so long for Google to roll this update out to Android users on a broad scale, seeing as how it’s been in testing since June, and considering that Material 3 Expressive launched in stable form alongside Android 16 QPR1 back in early September. In any case, I’m glad to see it finally arrive, and I hope this means Google can now turn its attention to other expressively-deficient apps like Snapseed, the YouTube suite, Fitbit, and Authenticator.