Apple soft launches Apple Pay in beta for the US customers

Apple now allows users to send and receive money from the iPhone via Apple Pay. The feature lets you transfer money to your friends and family inside the Messages app from the iPhone. The service has been launched in public beta on iOS 11.2. For now, the beta is available for only the US customers who will see Apple Pay button in the apps section of Messages.

Apple Pay works within the iMessage that allows you to initiate a payment. Obviously you and the payee both need to be using Apple devices, and should have active iMessage accounts for this to work. On the iPhone, you open the Messages app, open (or create) an iMessage thread with the person you want to pay - by sending a message saying "Here comes the money I owe you", for example - then tap the little Apple Store icon (the capital A) followed by the Apple Pay icon. Then you enter the amount, verify with Touch ID or Face ID, and the money is on its way.

The payment is transferred to an Apple Pay Cash Card, which lives in the Wallet app on your iPhone. You don't need to have signed up with Apple Pay for this to work - the card is created without any of your bank details needing to be involved. It's like a virtual bank account, and the advantage of this is that the transfer is instant.

Apple Pay Cash for sending money works with existing Apple Pay credit cards and debit cards. Transfering money through debit cards is free while the credit cards have a small fee (3 percent for AmEx). TechCrunch states that you need to use two-factor authentication with the Apple ID used with Apple Pay Cash.

The final version of Apple Pay Cash will work across iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches.