Facebook, PayPal Vs. Apple Pay: Send Money To Friends On Messenger

While Apple device owners continue to wait for the unknown launch date of the new Apple Pay features, PayPal and Facebook have teamed up to offer users person-to-person payments within the Messenger app.

Facebook and PayPal beat Apple to the punch by announcing their partnership Friday. The two companies had previously teamed up last year to allow more than 2.5 million U.S. customers to connect their accounts from both platforms and use PayPal to shop on the messaging app.

This time around, Facebook and PayPal expanded their partnership by allowing person-to-person payments without leaving the app and by letting users send and request money with their accounts. The feature is available starting today.

“The ability to send and request money in Messenger – one of the most widely used apps in the world – gives people more choice and more convenient ways to get things done in different contexts,” PayPal said in its announcement. “Whether it’s splitting a bill for a cab ride or a night out, paying for your share of the rent, or making sure you get paid back for Mom’s birthday present, PayPal makes exchanging money between friends and family simple.”

How To Send Money Using PayPal On Messenger

To use the PayPal and Messenger service, Facebook users must have a PayPal account. When writing a message in the app users can tap the blue plus icon, choose whether they want to send or request money, write in the amount and then tap the green button to confirm the payment. Users can then choose PayPal as their funding source for their person-to-person transactions. The feature works in conversations with a single person or in group chats.

How To Use PayPal’s Customer Service Bot On Messenger

Besides the person-person payment feature, PayPal also announced the launch of a customer service bot for Messenger. The bot will be able to help users with payments and account support, like resetting passwords, handling account inquiries and other tasks, on Messenger. To get help from the bot, users can search for PayPal on Messenger and type a note on what they need assistance with.

When Will The New Apple Pay Features Launch?

Apple announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June it was bringing a person-to-person payment feature and the Apple Pay Cash card to users with iOS 11. However, the improvements were not released under the update’s official launch last month and the subsequent updates to iOS 11. The features are likely to be released this month under iOS 11.1. Apple reportedly expanded internal testing of the features to retail employees this month.

The new features will allow users to make person-to-person payments with Apple Pay within iMessage. The Message app will detect when someone tells the user money is owed in a conversation. The device will then show Apple Pay in iMessage as a suggestion where it usually predicts the next word. The money received will be transferred to the person’s Apple Pay Cash card, which can be used to send money to others through their device, make purchases in stores or online and transfer funds to their bank account.

Apple’s person-to-person payment feature means people won’t have to rely on other rival apps like Venmo and Square Cash to send money to other iOS users.