Google Wallet is working on a new payment option for international travel

When you’re out exploring the world, the last thing you want to worry about is not being able to pay for things. And while we’re not there quite yet, services like Google Wallet already go a long way towards giving us a universal payment solution. Now we’re getting an early look at how that’s getting even better, as Wallet prepares to offer an all-new way to pay.

Alipay is a digital wallet that’s big in China, and Alipay Plus is its international cousin, supporting payment systems in nations across Southeast Asia. The next time you find yourself in that neck of the woods, Google Wallet could offer you the opportunity to make Alipay Plus payments via QR code.

Looking through Google Wallet version 26.42.1003171897, we’re finding work towards a new “Overseas QR payments” option in app settings. Following the “Learn more” link featured on that screen, we find a Google Wallet support page for something called Traveler QR.

As Google highlights there, this option is designed to activate automatically when your phone detects that you’re in a covered region. While Google mentions that includes “any of the supported destinations listed above,” the only one we see specifically named at the moment involves “Alipay+ partner networks in Singapore.”

It’s possible that may ultimately expand to Alipay Plus in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and more, but right now we just see Singapore. There’s also the chance that Google isn’t entirely finished building out this support page, anyway — we don’t find it publicly linked from any others just yet. It does read a little odd to mention “any” supported destinations and only feature one, so maybe we just got here too early.

All that in mind, we’ll keep an eye out for anything resembling a formal launch announcement for Traveler QR, or maybe even just spot some updates to that support page that help to further clear up what we should expect.