Starting next month, you’ll need Android 9 and up on your device to use Google Wallet.
In a new support document discovered by 9to5Google, Google says that starting June 10 “Google Wallet will require Android 9 or higher on your phone and Wear OS 2.x or higher on your smartwatch.”
According to Google “security updates aren’t available for Android versions below 9.” Without security updates, phones are more likely to be hacked.
Currently, Google Wallet requires Android 7 or above. The change will impact people who are still using Android Nougat and Oreo. We're now at Android 14, and the Android 15 launch is imminent; expect more there at Google I/O this week.
Google Wallet has come preinstalled on phones since 2015. Starting June 4, meanwhile, Google will sunset its Google Pay app in favor of its Google Wallet app.