Send and Receive Money Without the Hassle

There are a handful of tried-and-tested services that let you send and receive money using just your iPhone and their respective apps. They offer speed and convenience when transferring funds for any number of reasons: from splitting the charge for carpooling gas to crowdfunding a friend’s project, from receiving your roommate’s share of the rent to paying your landlord for the month’s dues. But they do so without compromising safety, as they’re equipped with measures and features designed to protect user security and privacy, including encryption, identity verification, and Touch ID integration.

But what’s the best peer-to-peer payment service out there? This article seeks to answer that by highlighting five of the most popular, namely, Facebook Payments, Google Wallet, PayPal, Square Cash, and Venmo.

For each service, we explain how transfers are implemented, that is, how to send, request and receive money. We also mention how much each service costs — although it’s safe to say that each of the services offers a free iPhone app and generally charges no fees for person-to-person transactions within the U.S. (All but one of the highlighted services are available in the U.S. only.)

So read on and be enlightened about the services that are increasingly making IOUs and the like things of the past — and ultimately find out what service you should be using.

To send money on the go using PayPal for iPhone, you just have to enter the recipient’s email address or mobile number along with the amount you want to send. The recipient will then receive an email or text message notifying him or her of the payment.

You can also request money using PayPal by entering the email address or mobile number of the person you want to ask payment from. PayPal, in select countries, also offers PayPal.me, a relatively new platform where you can claim your personalized URL which you can share via text, email or social media to request money from family, friends, and other people including complete strangers. People who wish to pay you via PayPal.me need to sign in to or sign up for a PayPal account, though.

You see, the money you receive is added to your PayPal balance. Your balance serves as your virtual wallet from which you can take money to shop or pay your friends and family with, or from which you can withdraw money into your bank account or by requesting a check. Depending on the bank, withdrawing money can take up to four business days.

Perhaps the one feature of Google Wallet that speaks most strongly of its being a peer-to-peer payment service is charge split. Built into Google Wallet’s official mobile app, the charge split feature comes in handy when you’d like to divide the cost of a transaction with other users such as your friends at a bar or restaurant. Participants in the charge split are duly notified of their respective shares, which they can choose to settle up or decline.

Using the Google Wallet app, you can send or request money to and from anyone in the U.S. with a mobile number or an email address (not necessarily a Gmail one).

When sending money, you can choose to fund the transfer from your Google Wallet balance, bank account, or debit card. (Google Wallet currently doesn’t support funding money transfers with credit cards.) The recipient has to sign in to or (if he or she doesn’t have a Google Wallet account yet) sign up for Google Wallet using an email address (which, again, doesn’t need to be Gmail) and then verify his or her identity in order to receive the money.

When requesting money, you don’t have to know beforehand whether the person you’re requesting money from already has a Google Wallet account. That’s because he or she is required to sign in to or sign up for Google Wallet to send the money you requested.

Money transfers funded via Google Wallet balance or debit card are completed virtually instantly, but transfers funded via bank account could take up to several days to be completed.

You can use your Google Wallet balance for, among others, online shopping or funding money transfers. You can also withdraw money from your Google Wallet balance to your bank account, but the transfer will also take several days.

First and foremost, it should be noted that Facebook Payments is available for use only between users in the U.S. who are friends on Facebook. Also, it’s being rolled out to more users, so it may not be accessible to you even if you meet the basic criteria.

To send money, just open a Messenger conversation with the Facebook friend you want to send money to, tap the $ button, enter the amount you want to send, tap Pay, enter your debit card details if you don’t have a card on file yet, and tap Pay.

You can also send money to a friend within a Messenger group chat by selecting the friend you want to send money to after tapping the $ button.

To receive money, open the conversation where your friend sent you the money and tap Add Card to add your debit card if you don’t have a card on file yet.

Instead of being stored in a virtual wallet as with PayPal and Google Wallet, the money you receive through Facebook Payments is deposited straight to your bank account, although it may take up to three business days for the money to be converted into available bank account balance.

To send money using Venmo for iPhone, you just have to enter the name, @username, phone number or email address of the person you wish to send money to, specify the transfer amount, and tap Pay.

Given the popularity of Venmo (notwithstanding its U.S.-only availability), it’s likely that the recipient is already on Venmo. But in the event that the recipient is not a Venmo user, he or she will receive an email with a link to accept the money.

By default, Venmo suggests that the recipient sign up for a Venmo account and deposit the money to Venmo. But the recipient can opt to bypass Venmo membership and choose to deposit straight to his or her bank account instead by entering the routing number and the account number of his or her bank.

The steps for requesting money are pretty much the same as those for sending money, except you need to tap Request instead of Pay.

Money sent through Venmo may be funded using your Venmo balance, bank account, debit card, or credit card. And money received is added to your Venmo balance — a less than favorable setup Venmo shares with Google Wallet and its parent service, PayPal.

You can convert your Venmo balance to cash by transferring money into your bank account, a process that usually takes just one business day. Of course, you can also use your Venmo balance to fund future transactions.

Interestingly, transactions are shared on Venmo’s social news feed. The feed shows who paid who and for what (usually indicated using amusing emoji), although the payment amounts are withheld. Don’t worry: You can opt out of the news feed by changing your privacy settings if, unlike many other Venmo users, you’d rather not broadcast your transactions.

Indeed, conventional wisdom dictates that money matters be kept private. But somehow Venmo has turned the ability of users to be privy to others’ financial comings and goings into one of its major selling points.

To sign up for Square Cash, you just have to provide your mobile number or email address and link your debit or credit card. (Square Cash is open to users in the U.S. only.) You can then initiate transfers using Square Cash’s iPhone app, Apple Watch companion app, email support, or $Cashtag feature.

To send or request money through the iPhone app, you just need to: enter your desired amount; tap Pay or Request; add the name, $Cashtag, mobile number, or email address of the recipient; enter a note (optional); and tap Pay or Request.

On your Apple Watch, you can use Square Cash to send money by opening the Square Cash app on the device, tapping the name of your recipient, selecting an amount, and tapping Pay.

To send or request money via email, open your preferred email app, compose and send an email with the following: the recipient’s email address in the To: field, “cash@square.com” (send) or “request@square.com” (request) in the Cc: field, the payment amount in the subject line, and a note in the message body.

As for $Cashtag (which apparently “inspired” PayPal.me), you can use this feature to send or request money via a Web browser. You can use this to easily collect payments from family and friends for whatever reason (as though you were an online store) or even to solicit donations from other people, even those you don’t personally know.

To send money using $Cashtag, you just have to go to the custom Cash.me URL of your recipient, e.g. Cash.me/$wikipedia, sign in to your Square Cash account, enter your payment amount, and click Pay.

To request money using $Cashtag, just give your custom Cash.me URL to the person you want to request money from. You’re actually free to share your URL with anyone, even someone who doesn’t have a Square Cash account; that someone just have to enter a payment account, enter his or her debit or credit card details, and click Pay.

Similarly, the intended recipient of a payment need not be a Square Cash member in order to accept the money. If the recipient doesn’t have a Square Cash account, he or she gets an email with a link to claim the money simply by entering the details of the debit card to which the money will be deposited.

For Square Cash members and non-members alike, provided that they’ve already linked a debit card, funds are deposited directly to bank accounts usually within seconds and occasionally within a business day or two.

As the header for this section states, Square Cash is deemed (at least by us here at AppAdvice) “the best way to pay.” But what makes Square Cash a cut above the rest?

The answer is simple. I mean, the answer is literally “simple.” That’s right: Square Cash is the best because it’s simple. Or make that dead simple.

First and foremost, Square Cash works on the Apple Watch, any email client, and any web browser, in addition to the service’s official mobile apps including on iPhone.

With Square Cash, money is quickly and easily sent and received to and by anyone, even by someone who doesn’t have a Square Cash account. You don’t even have to sign up for a Square Cash account to send and receive money with Square Cash.

If you don’t have a Square Cash account, you can send money to a Square Cash member if you know his or her $Cashtag. You don’t really have to know the recipient’s name, phone number, or email address. You just go to the Cash.me URL with the recipient’s $Cashtag (i.e., Cash.me/$Cashtag), enter an amount, and enter your debit or credit card information, and that’s it. No need to sign up for an account, unlike with PayPal.me.

Receiving money is also painless even without a Square Cash account. Just follow the link in the email notification and enter your debit card information to accept the money. You won’t be asked to sign up for an account, unlike with PayPal, Google Wallet, and Venmo.

As you can see, Square Cash is decidedly straightforward. And this is further evidenced by the fact that unlike unlike PayPal, Google Wallet, and Venmo, Square Cash doesn’t hold money in a virtual wallet balance — at least not by default. With Square Cash, unless you enable its optional virtual card feature, there’s no need to think about transfers or withdrawals because funds are deposited straight into linked bank accounts, and usually within seconds at that.

To its credit, Facebook Payments also offers direct deposits along with the convenience afforded by its being built right into Facebook Messenger. But it requires that both sender and recipient be on the social network that is Facebook in the first place.

Speaking of social network, I’m inclined to note that Square Cash is all but devoid of one, true to its being a no-frills online payment service. That’s in contrast to Venmo, which has a social news feed that’s unique among popular peer-to-peer payment services. Of course, what other people do with their money is none of your business, but you’re free to feast your eyes on their Venmo transactions if you’re into that kind of thing and if you derive a certain pleasure or satisfaction in doing so.