Why I ditched PDFs and started using Google Wallet for almost everything
Android Police 2026-07-20 12:15:15
Context: The author, Rita El Khoury, a Senior Writer at Android Police, has started using Google Wallet to store and manage PDF documents, particularly tickets and reservations, in addition to its traditional payment and pass storage functions. She has found Google Wallet's ability to scan and parse custom passes to be highly effective, even with foreign language documents. This has streamlined her process of handling tickets and reservations, making it easier to access and manage event details.
Key Facts
- Google Wallet's "Everything else" option allows users to take a photo of a document, such as a ticket or reservation, and let Google parse it, extracting relevant information like event name, date, time, venue, and ticket holder's name.
- The app can handle tickets and reservations in various languages, including French, Hungarian, Romanian, Spanish, Albanian, and Dutch, and displays the information in a uniform format.
- Google Wallet passes are available offline by default, allowing users to access them even without an internet connection, and can be displayed on devices like the Google Pixel Watch 4.
- The app can store the original scanned document, in addition to the parsed information, and allows users to edit passes before and after they are added.
- Google Wallet has limitations, such as requiring multiple tickets in a single PDF to be added one by one, and not integrating with other Google services, like Calendar and Maps, to automatically create events and associate them with Wallet passes.