Google Offers Payments App

SAN FRANCISCO – Google has released a new app called Hands Free, which lets users buy items in stores by telling the cashier: “I’ll pay with Google.”The app, available for Android and Apple phones, is being piloted in a only a few locations in the San Francisco area, including some McDonalds.

The idea of paying with your voice isn’t new.

In 2011, payments company Square launched an app similar to Hands Free, called Square Wallet. Little used, it was discontinued in 2014.

In the new venture, after the user says “I’ll pay with Google,” the cashier confirms ID by using the customer’s initials and the photo loaded onto the Hands Free app.