Buy European

In Germany, some banks (Sparkassen and Volksbanken) use their own apps (on Android) instead of Google Wallet.

Please remember that it is a free service and like with most free stuff you still pay, just not with money. What they earn is your financial information - every transaction you do is logged and used to better target actions toward you.

Ultimately you get convenience and they get an angle to better work you in the future. The stuff you buy, the causes you support, etc., all is recorded and analysed to better understand how to drive you to spend more on shit you don't want in the first place.

I think that moving away from Google wallet is a good decision but getting into the same abusive relationship with another company is not.

Samsung has an nfc payment servic too. That's about it sadly.

In Nordic countries there is MobilePay. I think in Norway they already have NFC payment. NFC payment should be coming to Finland later this year. It's already possible to pay in stores with MobilePay over Bluetooth, but it's a bit of a hassle compared to Google Pay/Apple Pay. MobilePay can be used to pay in online stores that support it, and you can also send and receive money from other people.

Any alternative I've found was either riddled with ads or paid (so I didn't try it, cause why would I pay if I don't even know it works)

Seems like its something we're still kinda stuck with. Try just paying with card or even better cash

Haven't tried it myself yet but Revolut seems very popular.