By: Nick Gambino
As the iPhone X finally finds its way into customers’ hands and the whole Apple world is abuzz with excitement, another piece of news could easily fall between the cracks.
With the iOS 11.2 Beta, iPhone users are now able to send money to family and friends just as they would with such apps as Venmo, PayPal and Cash.
While this cool new function was announced back in June at the WWDC developer conference, it kind of got lost in the shuffle with so many other exciting things being released by Apple.
To use the new feature you’ll have to opt into the system. Once someone sends you money for the first time, accept it and you’ll be taken to the new Apple Pay Cash card located in the Wallet app. Now you can spend the money or transfer it to your bank account. The money appears on your balance instantly.
You can send money through the Messages app by checking the apps section of Messages and tapping on the Apple Pay button. This is the same section you check for gifs.
But it actually gets even easier than that to send or receive dollars. When you ask someone for money via text, the request is underlined. All they have to do is tap the dollar amount that is underlined and this will trigger the tool. Then simply tap “Request” or “Pay” to carry out the transaction.
Of course sending and receiving cash is free but you do have the option to send funds using your credit card. This charges a 3% fee for each transaction. So consider not doing that unless your back is up against the wall.
Now as I mentioned there are plenty of other apps out there that do the same thing as this new Apple Pay feature and they work beautifully. But there’s something to the integration of the feature into the Messages app that make it even easier to transfer money between iPhone users. Whether it will catch on or not, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Either way, it’s a solid function and certainly has a place on the iPhone.
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