Documentation

Troubleshooting Google Smart Tap

Due to the variety of different devices and software versions on Android, the behaviour might be slightly different for your users.

Most important: the screen must be active in order to read passes. The phone must stay in range until the transaction finished. If the user removes the phone too soon, the transaction will fail and the pass can’t be read.

Nothing happens when the user taps

This might be due to a number of reasons:

  • the pass is saved on a different Google account. Ask the user to check that the pass is saved on the same account as the one they’re using in Google Wallet on the phone.
  • NFC is turned off. Turn on NFC by going to Settings → Connected devices → Connection preference
  • Smart Tap is off for a given pass. Ask the user to open the pass in the Google Wallet app, scroll down to the bottom of the pass and ensure that the toggle “Hold near terminal to use” is on.
  • Google Wallet is not enabled. Google Wallet must be set as the default Wallet in order to use a pass at a NFC terminal. To do this, go to Settings → Connections → NFC and payment. If NFC is not enabled, enable it. Afterwards, select Tap and pay and choose Google Wallet.
  • The antenna of the phone is located in a different area of the phone. While most phones have the antenna at the top of the device, on some phones it’s located at the bottom. Ask the user to hold his phone in a different way.

If all of the above is ensured, do this:

  1. ask the user to wake up his screen and (ideally) unlock his phone
  2. tell the user to tap his phone again and keep it at the reader until the user sees the checkmark on his phone that indicates that the pass was read.

The user’s phone shows a success icon but nothing happens in the App/PoS

This might be an issue specific to the NFC reader. Make sure the users phone is unlocked and ask the user to move the phone out of range of the NFC reader. Afterwards the user should tap again.

A selection of passes is shown when the user taps

If Google Wallet is opened when the user taps and multiple passes are shown, ask the user to select the correct pass and tap again.

Google Wallet is not used for payments, can it be used for passes?

Yes, users can use Google Wallet passes, even if they don’t use Google Wallet to actually pay for something.

A user’s phone does not have NFC, can they still use the ticket?

Usually passes created with gifttowallet always contain a QR code as a fallback option. If the user’s phone doesn’t have an NFC chip, Google Wallet will automatically display the QR code. If you’re using the gifttowallet Smart Scan App, you can simply scan the QR code and still validate the pass.
If you’re using a custom integration to e.g. your Point of Sale system, it depends on the options available. If you support scanning QR codes, the pass can be used. If you only support NFC passes, the ticket can’t be used in this case.