Android 15 Beta 1 breaks NFC / Google Wallet on some Pixels, but there's hope
Android updates can sometimes be a pain, considering there are different phone makers and carriers that all get a say on when builds are released. It all creates a huge mess when you want the latest features or security patches. Google's been fixing this with a project called Mainline, however, it is because of this project that it appears NFC is broken for those that updated to the latest Android 15 Beta 1 released yesterday.
This was all documented in great detail by Android expert, Mishaal Rahman for Android Headlines in a post yesterday. You see, the idea behind Mainline is simple: Google takes certain parts of Android and packages them like little apps. Instead of waiting for phone's OEM to bake an update, these parts get updated directly through the Google Play Store. This means faster updates and faster security fixes for us the users. Good news, right?
However, it seems NFC — the tech responsible for contactless payments and quick data transfers — is about to become a Mainline module in Android 15. This was hinted at a while back, but now Rahman states he's got some solid evidence of it.
This NFC change is a good thing because it shows Google is determined to streamline updates and the fragmentation mess that Android is known for. It's a sign that we may see even more critical parts of Android handled this way in the future. But, with Android 15 still being new, there's been an issue with some Pixel phones where NFC has stopped working. This has, of course, caused issues with the Google Wallet app, which now prompts and gives you a choice to be your default contactless payment app.
The good news is that now Google could just as easily update the app and fix what's broken without much fuss — or so we hope. This isn't affecting all Pixel devices, and it is only affecting the beta testers on Android 15, so the impact should not be too great. Hopefully, you aren't running this beta on your daily driver...right?
Header image by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
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