If you do a lot of online shopping, you already know the chaos of waiting for a delivery. You navigate between merchant websites and carrier tracking apps, all the while seeing your inbox become increasingly cluttered with alerts that your package is about to arrive at your door. And let’s be honest, digging through a sea of ​​promotional emails to find an elusive tracking number isn’t any more exciting either. Luckily, a new update to Google Wallet should help you eliminate this annoying headache completely.
Google has officially rolled out a feature for US users that turns Google Wallet into a centralized hub for all your online orders. Instead of just serving as a digital storage space for things like credit cards and your virtual boarding passes, the app can now automatically pull detailed receipts, carrier tracking numbers, and live shipping statuses right from your Gmail inbox.
This is a fantastic convenience, but as is often the case, Google has an important caveat you’ll need to consider. For this feature to work, you must be comfortable giving Google permission to scan your inbox. You will need both Smart features and personalization And Parcel tracking enabled in your Gmail settings. If you’re deeply concerned about your data privacy, giving up this level of access might give you a little pause. However, if you’re already deeply invested in Google’s ecosystem, it probably makes sense to trust the company to help streamline your shopping experience with things like this and Google Wallet’s “Everything Else” feature.
How to access your delivery information in Google Wallet
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Assuming you’re OK, permission-wise, to let Google do the heavy lifting, setting up this new feature is a simple and straightforward process. First, you need to make sure the integration is active on the messaging side. To do this, open your Gmail app, dive into your account settings and check that Parcel tracking is activated. You will also need to enable Smart features in other Google products to allow Wallet to retrieve this data securely.
Once these permissions are granted, the rest is automatic. The next time you make an online purchase, your shipping information will appear directly on the Google Wallet home screen. All items arriving soon will be clearly displayed so you can easily view them whenever you want. Additionally, you can tap on any specific purchase to view more details about the transaction, including the current shipping status.
If you want to view your entire purchase history, simply tap the “Show more” button to view a longer list of your online orders. Likewise, if you just need hyper-specific updates from your carrier, tap Track the package inside the app will instantly redirect you to the carrier’s official website. This new online order tracking is a pretty handy addition, so I hope it doesn’t become one of Google Wallet’s many seriously neglected features. Although the feature is currently limited to the United States, it still represents a huge step forward in transforming Google Wallet from a simple payment tool into an all-in-one digital carrying case.
