How to use a Google Play gift card

Google Play is not only the largest app store in the world but also a music subscription service, a bookstore, and a video store. Google Play gift cards make an excellent gift (hence the name), but that's not the limit of their use. Since Google restricts underage user accounts from Google Wallet, Google Play gift cards might be the only way for your munchkins to purchase content. Here's where to find them and how to use them.

Google Play gift cards are available in brick and mortar stores in a plethora of countries. Here in the United States, they are available at Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, GameStop, and a host of others you can find right here. Google Play gift cards start at $10 and are available in amounts up to $100.

How to use a Google Play gift card

Once you have a gift card, you have to get that code hiding under the silver foil into your account. Here's how:

Open Google Play on your phone or computer.
Tap or click the three-line menu button in the top left corner of the screen.
Tap Redeem.
Input the 16-digit code found under the SCRATCH TO REVEAL CODE strip on the back of your gift card.
Tap Redeem.
Tap Confirm .

Once you accept that this is indeed the intended account, the card's amount is added to your balance as Google Play credit. As a small reminder, Google Play gift cards cannot be used towards physical items like devices and accessories in the Google Store; they are only available for digital purchases of digital goods in the Google Play Store.

While we wish that you could send Google Play gift cards through an email, which Google Play removed recently and which other major online stores like iTunes and Amazon have allowed practically since their inception, anything that lets us avoid directly putting our credit card into our kids' IAP-riddled accounts is welcomed.