The Pixel 7 series was recently announced and face unlock on the phones is making a comeback. That face unlock does come with a compromise that many Pixel 7 owners have most likely encountered in the supermarket.
Pixel 7 refuses Google Pay payments
The face unlock on the Pixel 7 (Pro) is a software feature and thus does not use the biometric authentication found on the Pixel 4 series. Those phones are equipped with a Soli sensor and two infrared scanners. This form of advanced facial recognition can also be used to secure banking applications or password managers.
The face unlock on the Pixel 7 works quite well. I have already experienced this myself during testing. However, Google has not indicated that the unlock only works for the lockscreen. Apps that require biometric authentication, such as banking apps and password managers, cannot use this face unlock. Google already has confirmed that the face unlock on the Pixel 7 is a Class 1 biometric system, which has not been released for unlocking secure apps such as Google Pay and Google Wallet. As a result, Pixel 7 owners are having issues with payments over the phone.
Warm waffle got cold
Last weekend I wanted to pay for a waffle with whipped cream, but the payment via Google Wallet (formerly Google Pay) and ABN Amro was refused. Then I tried with the ING app and that payment was also refused. Finally I was able to pay with a payment request. Also 9to5Google reports the problem. According to this website, this has to do with face unlock and the fingerprint scanner. If you only use face unlock on the Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro, Google Wallet will automatically decline a transaction via NFC. The error message during the checkout comes without explanation.
So if you use face unlock on the Pixel 7, you will probably run into problems with NFC payments. This is not the case when using fingerprint unlocking.
Google hasn’t responded yet, and hopefully the company will soon release an update explaining why facial unlock can’t be used for phone contactless payments.
– Thanks for information from Androidworld. Source