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Google has today released an app which is being piloted by users, allowing them to make in-store payments without handling either their wallet or smartphone.

The app was first announced in May last year during Google’s I/O developer conference. The limited public pilot, which is being tested in a number of retail stores and restaurants in San Francisco’s South Bay, is taking mobile payments to the next level by allowing users to make a payment without having to handle their phone.

The app, which is available on iOS and Android phone operating systems, uses Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and location services to determine when you are in a participating store.

“When you are ready to pay at a store, simply tell the cashier “I’ll pay with Google”. The cashier confirms your identity, using your initials and the photo you [previously] added to your Hands Free profile.”

The idea of authenticating payments using a “selfie” photo is not a new one, PayPal and Square have also tried such initiatives in the past but without significant take-up.

Google says that their Hands Free app is an alternative mobile payment option to Android Pay, which Google released in the US last year and is expected to arrive in the UK imminently, and in Australia by the end of July 2016.

Read more about Google Hands Free here.

Related:

Android Pay now available in the US