[Update 2: References Removed] Android Q may let you switch cards from Google Pay in the power menu

Apps like Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay have grown more popular around the world as carrying a wallet full of different credit cards, loyalty cards, passes, and tickets can be annoying. I’ve personally used Google Pay extensively during a recent trip to London where it was more convenient to pay for the London Underground using my phone than it was to buy an Oyster Card or individual tickets. It’s quite easy to pay with your phone as all you need to do is unlock the device then hold it against the NFC terminal. However, if you want to change what card you’ll pay with, then you need to open the app and select a different card. A new feature in Android Q may speed up that process.

Earlier today, Google rolled out Android Q beta 4 for the Google Pixel smartphones. I’ve been documenting the things I’ve found on Twitter, and one of the more interesting hidden features is a new item in Gesture settings (also spotted by 9to5Google). Once enabled, this feature will let you switch between the cards stored in your Google Pay wallet by pressing and holding the power button then swiping left and right. The feature description reads as follows:

Show cards & passes

To show credit cards, passes, tickets, and emergency info, press & hold Power button. You see the cards and passes that are in your G Pay app.

The power menu shifts to the bottom and the card carousel will be shown above them.

Screenshots by Max Weinbach\\XDA.

To make this new feature show up, simply enter the following ADB command:

adb shell settings put secure global_actions_panel_available 1

Since Android Q beta 4 doesn’t pass CTS, we can’t actually use Google Pay for payments yet. Furthermore, we’ll likely need an app update to get this feature working. Once it becomes available, we’ll let you all know.

Update 1: Confirmed Feature

On Google’s new page explaining the design and features of Android 10, we spotted a mention of “quick wallet access” which lets you “quickly access your credit cards stored in Google Pay, boarding passes, and emergency info through the Power menu.” This feature isn’t live yet on the actual Android 10 release, but its mention on this page confirms that it’ll eventually become accessible for users.

Update 2: References Removed

As shown in the previous update, when Android 10 became official, Google included Quick wallet access as one of the features mentioned on the website. It wasn’t live yet, but this showed that Google had it in the pipeline, as we expected. Well, when you visit that same page now, the references to Quick wallet access have been removed. Through the powers of the Wayback Machine, we were able to find out it was removed around September 10th (just 6 days after the site went up). We’re not sure when the feature will go live now.