Facebook Messenger Payments: The Entire US Can Now Send, Receive Payments
Facebook Messenger will now allow all users in the U.S. using its chat service to send and receive payments right inside a chat, CNet reports. Previously, the service was only available to people in certain cities.
On Tuesday, Facebook announced that it has expanded Messenger payments to all U.S. users of its popular chat program. The payments service was available for months for users in select markets like New York.
Facebook Messenger is the mobile and online chatting service that lets Facebook users chat with their friends. Facebook said in June that the service has 700 million users, which is up from the 600 million they reported in March and the 500 million they reported in November. The company did not report how many of those users were in the U.S.
The Facebook Messenger payments service was introduced in October and testing for it began in March. Users upload a Visa or Mastercard debit card to their accounts to send and accept payments.
To send money, users click on the dollar sign icon in the chat window and choose how much they want to send to their friend. Once the transfer is complete, the money instantly appears in the friend's checking account.
According to Android Community, an extra layer of security can be attached to the service by adding a PIN number.
Facebook Messenger's payments service joins PayPal and Square as companies that offer online payments among peers. Square recently merged with photo-sharing company Snapchat to create Snapcash.
Apple, Samsung and Google also offer payment services. All of these companies are trying to earn their share of the expanding mobile payments market. Next year, mobile payments are expected to grow to $27.5 billion in the U.S., up from $3.5 billion in 2014, according to research firm eMarketer.
Facebook has not revealed how many users have sent payments using the service so far, but they are encouraging people to try it. Facebook's David Marcus said in statement that he wants people to try the service and "let us know how we can make it better."
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