Apple Wallet vs. Google Wallet: What are the differences between them?

Both serve the same purposes, but there are some subtle differences.

Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, as their names suggest, have similar purposes. You use them as your digital wallet : a secure place to keep your payment cards, tickets and other everyday passes on your phone. Apple Pay and Google Pay are the services that handle the payments, but it's the Wallet apps that store everything. The names are often used interchangeably, though they refer to different parts of a connected process.

As long as the retailer accepts mobile payments and your card's payment network, and your card provider supports the wallet service, you should be able to use your digital cards to pay in-store and online. Which one you use is dictated by whether you own an iPhone or an Android phone. They're both similar in the basics, but have some differences in what you can add and how you're able to use them.

Google and Apple both want the Wallet app to be your go-to place for everything you'd otherwise stick in your physical wallet or purse. Credit and debit cards are the obvious items, but this also also includes loyalty cards, gift cards, boarding passes, event tickets, and train or bus tickets. It can even hold NFC-supported passes, like a digital hotel key or car key, as well as workplace access cards for buildings. This all depends on your location and whether the company providing the pass supports digital wallets. As long as NFC support is there, there's a chance it'll work.

Getting your payment cards into either app is straightforward. In Apple Wallet, tap the plus button and choose Debit or Credit Card . In Google Wallet, tap Add to Wallet > Payment card . You'll need to follow the prompts, then verify with your bank or card provider. As long as the issuing entity supports this function, the card should then be set up for you to use.

Some differences become apparent in support for other passes. Apple Wallet expects items you're adding to officially support digital wallets; you'll usually see an Add to Apple Wallet button in emails, apps or similar. This is useful, as it means the Wallet app can support specific features. For instance, if an airline supports it, a boarding pass will automatically update with gate numbers, while also showing up on your Apple Watch. The experience is uniform, with a strict Apple template for passes and cards. Though in iOS 27, you can now add custom passes for otherwise unsupported items.

Google Wallet has been more flexible for a longer time. It offers official Add to Google Wallet passes and can also import tickets and boarding passes from your Gmail inbox. More importantly, though, is its Everything Else option for digitizing photos of random cards and passes in your wallet. This makes it easy to store a parking, library or gym card. They'll lack the live updates, but this support means you can move to a fully digital setup, even for the analog items in your wallet.

Both Google Wallet and Apple Wallet are supposed to offer seamless experiences, which they do for the most part. Google Wallet is accessible through a web interface, while Apple Wallet isn't.