At Google I/O 2025, we unveiled updates across the Google Pay API designed to help you create smoother, safer, and more successful checkout experiences for your users. Whether you’re looking to boost conversions, enable new payment scenarios, enhance security, or simplify your integration, there’s something new for you. Let’s dive into the key announcements developers need to know.
Enhancing the checkout experience and conversion
Google Pay in Android WebViews
Big news! Starting with Chrome v137, users can seamlessly use Google Pay within Android WebViews, accessing an Android native experience and device tokens from their Google Wallet. Simply enable PaymentRequest in your app manifest, and tap into the opportunities of in-app browser purchases with a high-quality, secure form of payment. Take a look at the integration guide to learn more.
Figure 1: A sample checkout flow via a WebView on Android that uses Google Pay to complete the payment
A more versatile API to power modern checkout flows
We are introducing improvements to the Google Pay API to help you adapt to a payment ecosystem that is in continuous evolution. Here are some of our favorite updates:
- The Google Pay payment sheet now features richer card art and names, helping users select their preferred card faster. The payment sheet also supports dark mode for a more integrated feel within your application.
Figure 2: Screenshots showcasing the Google Pay payment sheet in their dark and light versions.
figure 3: An example offering Google Pay using a list selector through the Payment Metadata API
- We’re adding support for Merchant-Initiated Transactions (MITs) (subscriptions, auto-reloads, deferred charges) to the Google Pay Online API. This includes details in the payment sheet to inform users, device-independent tokens for payment continuity (even if users change devices), and lifecycle notifications for underlying card changes.
Streamlining the developer experience
We are dedicated to making the Google Pay API easier to integrate, test and maintain. Here are some updates that improve the integration experience:
- Testing just got easier. We have improved the test card suite, so you can now see relevant test cards (regular, tokenized, debit) for your specific PSP directly in the payments sheet when using the
TESTenvironment.
- Debug your integrations faster on Android with more fine-grained build time error logs to amend your logic more easily, and detailed exceptions/error codes at runtime. Check out the troubleshooting guide if you are seeing errors in your integration.
Figure 4: More detailed error messages are now surfaced via the Logcat and the debugger
Figure 5: The Google Pay API Status Dashboard includes service uptime and health information.
Doubling down on security and risk management
Security and fraud prevention is at the core of everything we do. When you use Google Pay, you are making your checkout forms more secure. Here are some updates on the topic:
- Smarter Fraud Detection: Our latest models help significantly reduce payment fraud. You can now contribute to further tuning by uploading chargeback data via the Google Pay & Wallet Console.
- Built-in ID&V: Google Pay can automatically trigger identity verification challenges for suspicious transactions. This is available to you today without you writing a single line of code..
- We plan to enhance the API response with more detailed risk information in the next few months, giving you more control over risk decisions. Remember that Google Pay validation and fraud checks are supplementary and should not replace your established risk management procedures.
Explore the latest Google Pay API updates
This year’s Google I/O brought significant advancements to Google Pay, focused on tangible benefits: higher conversion, enhanced security, broader payment capabilities, and a smoother development process. We encourage you to explore the updated documentation, try out the new testing tools, and leverage these features to build better payment experiences.
Check out the following resources to learn more:
1: See the integration guide to start using Google Pay in your WebViews
2: Check out the updated test card suite page in the documentation
3: Explore the new developer resources
4: Bookmark the Google Pay API Status Dashboard to stay up to date about the status of the Google Pay API and gain insights about potential incidents
Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.
