For Apple users, they are offered a digital service called Apple Pay and Apple Cash as a way to streamline paying bills and sending money to friends and family. These services are built right into the Messages app. With it, you can simply send money to people simply through a text message, with no additional download. However, these services are only available in the U.S. Continue reading our Apple Pay and Apple Cash Review to learn more.
How do Apple Pay and Apple Cash work?
People who use Apple Pay simply make payments form their mobile device, funded by a linked credit or debit card. These payments must be approved either through your biometric scan (depending on which device you have) or a passcode.
Apple Cash can be found in Apple’s Wallet app. You can choose to load cash form a debit or prepaid card, then use the wallet to fund Apple Pay transactions or send and receive money from others. For those who have the Apple Card, Apple Cash can also be funded with Daily Cash. Basically, when you pay using your Apple Card through Apple Pay, you earn cash back in the form of Daily Cash.
With Apple’s innovations in technology, people can even send money using their voice and the voice assistant, Siri. All you have to do is make a voice command like “Send 10 dollars to Bob for dinner.” When a user receives money, it is kept in the recipient’s Apple Cash account. The user can then decide to either store it in their Apple Cash account or transfer that money to their bank account.
For balances over $1, Apple Cash has a $1 minimum transfer requirement when transferring money to a bank account. But if your balance is under $1, you can transfer the full balance. The minimum deposit is $10 when you transfer from your debit or prepaid card into the wallet.
Apple Cash and Apple Pay Features
Digital wallet cost | There’s no fee to send, receive or request money using Apple Cash with normal delivery.
If you select “instant transfer” when moving Apple Cash money to your bank account, however, there is a 1% fee subject to a $0.25 minimum and $10 maximum. |
Linking options | Eligible U.S. credit, debit or prepaid cards. |
Speed for cashing out to a bank account | Within 30 minutes with Instant Transfer if using an eligible Visa debit card.
1-3 business days to use a bank transfer. |
What you need | Apple device with the most recent operating system.
Two-factor authentication set up for Apple ID. Money on the Apple Cash card or an eligible debit card that’s linked to the mobile Apple Wallet. |
How do Apple Pay and Apple Cash compare?
Available platforms: Considering these two products are Apple exclusive and you must have an Apple device to even use these products, their target consumer base is quite small compared to Venmo and PayPal.
Digital wallet costs: Apple Cash and Venmo are free to send money using a linked debit card or in-app balance. With Venmo, you can also use credit cards, but it costs 3% of the transfer amount. With PayPal, sending money with a debit or credit card costs 2.9% of the total amount plus 30 cents.
Transfer speed: As with Venmo and PayPal, money received in Apple Cash goes into an in-app balance, which you can then transfer to a bank account. This can take up to three days, or up to five days with PayPal. All the competitors including Apple have an instant transfer option and they all have a transaction fee of 1% of the transferred amount.
FDIC insurance: Apple Cash transfers are serviced by a bank. When you register your Apple Cash account, your money is federally insured up to $250,000, just as it would be in a traditional bank account. Balances in PayPal and the Venmo app aren’t insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Transfer limits: This is where each platform will start to differ because Apple Cash allows you to send up to $10,000 to another recipient per transaction, and transfer up to $20,000 per week to your debit card or bank account. With Venmo, you can send up to $4,999.99 per transfer and per week. PayPal caps individual transactions at $60,000, and in some cases $10,000, per transfer.
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Bottom Line
If you’re an Apple device user then you probably already know a little bit about Apple Pay and Apple Cash. They are a convenient money transfer tools provided by Apple to make contactless payments and send or receive money from friends. They offer very competitive perks against their competitors with some features even exceeding them. For more posts like this, check out our list of money transfer service promotions and Apple promotions.