Google Introduced a Strange Feature to the Play Store: Others May Be Asked to Pay!

Two weeks ago, Google wrapped up its highly anticipated I/O developer conference. Focusing on artificial intelligence and Gemini this year, Google also included important innovations in Chrome, Android and Google Play.

In the presentation that Google focused on developers, a number of new features and tools were introduced to improve the in-app purchasing system. What stood out among these was a button that allowed users to ask someone else to pay for an app or in-app item during checkout.

What is the Request Payment from Someone Else Button?

Google Play’s newly added request for payment button offers developers a new payment option for in-game purchases. With this button, users can gift a game or content to their friends or family.

Thanks to the button that offers the feature of requesting payment from someone else, a payment link is created that users can send to another user to complete a purchase on their behalf. The user who taps the button must know the full email address of the person making the payment. It should also be noted that the payment link is valid for 24 hours.

A short introductory text is included in the payment link created. This article states the name and price of the item you want to purchase. In addition, this promotional letter and payment link can be sent to the system sharing page and it is easy to choose who to share the link with.

Google Play has long allowed users to create a Family Library or family group to share apps, but there was no feature to ask someone else to pay. Now, with the “Request Payment from Someone Else Button”, it is possible for users to make a purchase from a person outside the Google family on their own devices.

Google announced that this new feature will be first available to users in India. Therefore, it is not yet clear when and in which countries the feature will be available.