Can’t get Google Wallet to Work? Have an Expanded Battery Pack? That may be Your Problem.

I’ve been beating my head around why every place I’ve gone to so far with Paypass (Home Depot, McDonalds, Best Buy, 7-Eleven, you name it) hasn’t worked with my new Galaxy Nexus phone that’s supposed to work with NFC and Google Wallet. I searched all the forums and just couldn’t figure out what was happening. The guys at 7-Eleven said it worked with every other phone they tried it with.

Then I remembered – I had an extended battery pack that I bought off Amazon that was on the phone to extend the battery life. It made the back of the phone a lot bigger, I’m guessing preventing the NFC signal from getting through. I actually found a unique way of testing it: The Nexus Q actually supports NFC. If you hold your phone up to the Nexus Q your phone will open up to the Nexus Q app in the Play Store. So I ran an experiment.

Just as with 7-Eleven and all the other Paypass stores, the Nexus Q didn’t register when I’d hold up my phone to the Nexus Q. When I removed the extended battery pack, sure enough, the phone would buzz, beep, and then open up to the Nexus Q app. That was indeed my problem!

So if you’re experiencing this same issue, try putting back in the original battery. I’m betting this fixes a few issues, and it’s odd that I’m not seeing this warning anywhere in the Galaxy Nexus forums or docs. I’m surely not the only one with a battery pack! And how does it work with thicker cases?

If this helped you, let me know in the comments!

Shared first on Google+!

UPDATE: I’m being told on Google+ that the NFC is actually in the battery on the Galaxy Nexus, so that would explain why this happens. I wonder if there are expanded battery packs that have NFC in them so this doesn’t happen. If you know any let me know in the comments!