Apple Pay Cash Preview: A Look at Apple's New Peer-to-Peer Payments Service

Apple Pay Cash, Apple's promised peer-to-peer payments service, is finally here. As of yesterday, U.S. public beta testers and developers running the latest beta of iOS 11.2 are able to use the Apple Pay Cash feature ahead of its official release.

With Apple Pay Cash now available for testing, we thought we'd take a close look at the new feature to see just how it works. As it turns out, Apple Pay Cash is dead simple to use, but there are many hidden details about the feature you'll want to know.

First Look: Apple Pay CashMacRumors

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All Apple Pay Cash transactions are conducted through the Messages app on the iPhone (and on the Apple Watch in watchOS 4.2). There's a new Apple Pay Cash app built into Messages, and tapping on this brings up the Apple Pay Cash interface. From here, you can choose to send or request money right in a one-to-one Messages conversation.

When sending money, the person on the other end simply needs to tap your incoming Apple Pay Cash message to accept, and that money is offloaded onto a new Apple Pay Cash card in the Wallet app. Money can be sent using a debit card, credit card, or Apple Pay Cash card, but all money received is stored on the Apple Pay Cash card. The Apple Pay Cash card is provided by Green Dot, a company that offers prepaid Discover cards.

Sending money from your debit card or Apple Pay Cash card is free, but there's a 3% fee when you use a credit card. Money on your Apple Pay Cash card can be used to make Apple Pay purchases or it can be sent to your bank account. For more details on setting up and using Apple Pay Cash, make sure to check out our full Apple Pay Cash how to.

There are limits on Apple Pay Cash. When adding cash to your card, it's a $10 minimum or a $3,000 maximum. When sending or receiving money, there's a $1 minimum and a $3,000 maximum, and a $10,000 maximum over 7 days. Once you've sent or received $500, you're going to need to verify your identity, which involves confirming personal details and uploading a picture of a photo ID.

Apple Pay Cash is limited to the United States right now, and to use the feature, both people need to be running the latest iOS 11.2 beta. An iPhone 6 or later is required, two-factor authentication must be turned on, and an eligible credit or debit card must be available in Wallet.

Apple will presumably launch Apple Pay Cash officially with the iOS 11.2 update, so non-beta testers may not have long to wait before the feature is widely available.