How to Set Up Google Pay on Your Wear OS Smartwatch?

Google Pay with Wear OS devices was made available in Canada this year. Previously, the payment service was only officially available on Wear OS devices in the US and UK.

Now you can make contactless payments directly from your wrist without having to take your wallet or even your smartphone out of your pocket. For those who are newbies, Google Pay is the contactless payment system that works on a selection of Wear OS watches and Android smartphones, but it’ll also work if your smartwatch is paired with an iPhone. It was originally known as Android Pay but has since been rebranded as Google Pay as the company combined the features of the service with the Google Wallet in early 2018.

The design layout of Google Pay

It’s split into two sections: Home, which allows you to see all of your recent payments, any nearby stores and any rewards you can claim, and Cards, which is where you’ll store and find all of your credit and debit cards, loyalty cards, offers, and gift cards. Google has, for some reason, rebranded Google Wallet as Google Pay Send, which will allow you to continue to send and request payments.

You can use your saved cards across a wide range of apps and websites via your Android device, and you’ll be able to use the service to pay for public transport if you’re living in a city that supports it.  This is clearly just the first step for Google Pay, though, and it seems that the company has big plans for the service.

Set Up Google Pay

If you want to be able to make payments from your smartwatch, then follow the steps below on how to set it up on your wrist and get spending.

To use Google Pay on your watch, you need to:

• Be in the US, UK, Spain, Australia, Canada, Poland, or Russia.
• Use a supported watch. Google Pay is already installed on supported watches. To see if your device is supported, check the list of apps on your watch.

Now add a card to your watch

If you add a card to your watch, you won’t need your phone to pay.

• On your watch, open the Google Pay app.
• Tap Get started.
• Set up a screen lock (if you haven’t already).
• On your phone, follow the instructions to add a credit or debit card. This only adds a card to the Google Pay app on your watch (not your phone).
• Your card will show up on your watch.

Note: At this time, you can’t add a discount, loyalty, or rewards card to Google Pay on your watch.

Next, Make a payment in a store

• On your watch, open Google Pay.
• Hold your watch over the contactless payment terminal until you hear a sound or feel a vibration from your watch.
• If asked, choose “Credit” regardless of your type of card.
• For debit card transactions, you may have to enter a PIN. Use the PIN you set up with your bank.

Canadian banks supporting Google Pay

To find out if your bank or card works for in-store purchases with Google Pay on your phone, use the information below.

Banks	Supported cards	Unsupported cards
Bank of Montreal (BMO)	BMO Personal debit cards include:   BMO Nesbitt Burns Debit BMO InvestorLine Debit BMO Private Banking Debit BMO MasterCard Personal credit cards	BMO Prepaid Travel MasterCard, Small Business cards, Diners Club cards
Desjardins	Desjardins Access Card (Interac debit card), Visa and Mastercard credit cards, Visa prepaid cards	Commercial and Business cards, Visa US cards
Banque Nationale du Canada (NBC)	Mastercard credit cards: ECHO ® Cashback, World Elite ® , World Mastercard ® , Allure ®, Edition ® , Platinum, Solutions Banking ®, Syncro, MC1 ® , Ovation Gold ® , Escapade ® , NBC Ultramar Mastercard, NBC CAA Rewards Mastercard and World Elite Mastercard PB 1859	Prepaid cards, Commercial cards and Debit cards
President’s Choice Financial®	All credit cards (Please refer here for details)	President’s Choice Financial® Debit Cards
Alberta Treasury Branch (ATB)	All Consumer and Business Mastercard credit cards, Consumer and Business debit
Canadian Tire Financial Services (CTFS)	Consumer MasterCard credit cards	Visa credit cards
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)	Interac Personal debit cards, Any Personal or Small Business Visa or MasterCard credit card, unless otherwise indicated, Simplii Financial Interac personal debit cards	CIBC corporate cards, CIBC Petro-Points MasterCard cards, CIBC Prepaid Visa Cards
Scotiabank	Interac debit cards, Visa Consumer credit cards, Visa prepaid cards, AMEX credit cards	MasterCard Credit, Visa Debit, Visa Small business
American Express	American Express Consumer, Small Business or Corporate Cards issued by Amex Bank of Canada	Prepaid cards and products (such as the American Express Gift Card) Corporate Purchasing Cards Global Dollar Cards Corporate Meeting Cards
UNI Financial Cooperation	Debit card, Visa and Mastercard credit cards

A selection of the best Wear OS watches

This is a big part of whether you’ll be able to use Google Pay on your watch. Your Wear OS device will need to have NFC (near-field communication) built-in to be able to sort Google Pay.

Top-end devices usually come with the technology ready to use, while some cheaper devices like the Ticwatch E and Ticwatch S don’t have NFC on board. If you don’t have NFC, you can’t use Google Pay.

To know if your watch has it, head into the app list on your Wear OS watch and see if Google Pay is already installed. If it is, that means you’ll be able to use it.

Pay with a non default card

The first card you add to Google Pay is used unless you choose to use another card. Here’s how:

• On your watch, open the Google Pay app.
• Scroll to the card you want to use. When you see “Hold to the terminal,” it’s ready to use.
• Hold your watch against the contactless payment terminal until you hear a sound or feel a vibration from your watch.
• If you’re using a debit card:
• Choose “credit”
• If asked, enter the pin you set up with your bank

Also change your default card:

• On your watch, open the Google Pay app.
• Scroll to the card you want to use as default and then tap it.
• From the bottom, swipe up on More .
• Tap Set as default card .

To remove the card:

• On your watch, open the Google Pay app.
• Scroll to the card you want to remove and then tap it.
• From the bottom, swipe up on More.
• Tap Remove.

To see past purchases:

• On your watch, open the Google Pay app.
• Tap a card.
• Swipe up on the card to view your transactions.

Now download the Google Pay app if not on your Android cell phone and get started.

Conclusion

This is how you can set up Google Pay on your Wear OS Smartwatch.