With the sudden release of iOS 11.2 because of an unexpected date bug that plagued iOS devices recently, Apple has also begun rolling out Apple Pay Cash to U.S. users.
Apple Pay Cash is the Cupertino tech firm's answer to Venmo. It enables users to send and receive money directly through iMessage, much like how Venmo and Square Cash work. Money received via Apple Pay Cash will be stored in a digital card in the Wallet app, which users will be able to spend anywhere Apple Pay is accepted.
Apple Pay Cash is perfect for smaller payments among friends — for instance, suppose a user owes their friend some money. They can pay by transferring funds using the feature instead of opening an entire app or hitting the ATM to settle the debt.
How To Pay With Apple Pay Cash
Apple Pay Cash can be accessed from the iMessage app. Tap the App Store icon beside the text field, then tap the black Apple Pay icon from the dock.
Those who are using it for the first time might have to set it up first, however. To do this, open up Settings, then go to the Wallet & Apple Pay section. Tap Apple Pay Cash card, then follow the onscreen instructions.
Transferring funds is free, but only when a debit card is used. Those who fund the transaction with a credit card instead will be charged 3 percent per transfer. Alternatively, users can pull funds from their bank accounts into their Apple Pay cash card and draw funds from there when transferring money to others.
Siri can also be used to send money. Try asking her, "Apple Pay $30 to Mary for dinner," for instance.
Make sure to read Apple's support page to learn everything about sending and receiving money via Apple Pay Cash.
Apple Pay Cash
Bringing Apple Pay Cash to iOS users has been a long road, that's for sure. It was originally tipped to launch alongside iOS 11 back in September, but was pushed to debut later in the fall instead.
But despite the delays, it's here now, and it's a significant evolution of Apple Pay, if only for the fact that it directly takes on Google Wallet's and Venmo's peer-to-peer payments feature. Is Apple Pay Cash a Venmo killer, though? That's hard to say for now, but it appears the feature serves as a way to keep people in the company's ecosystem. If iPhone users know they can send money using the Wallet app on their phones, then will they still turn to Venmo? Probably not.
