Square Cash is taking advantage of Apple’s new Touch ID feature to catch up with the competition. The mobile payment app, owned by Square, now allows users to authenticate their money transfers with their fingerprint in its latest app update, a feature reports say is long overdue.
Top Square Cash rival Venmo, owned by PayPal, introduced its own Touch ID security feature last November after Apple introduced the security option, which can be used to unlock an iPhone or authorize payments in the app store. Square co-founder Jack Dorsey praised the technology when it was introduced in 2013, suggesting it would benefit mobile wallet security. “It’s not necessarily better security,” he said at the time of fingerprint scanning technology. “But it’s just more human and more natural and more organic. So for us it means that people are protecting their phone in better ways.”
It’s unclear what took Dorsey so long to implement Touch ID with Square Cash, considering both Venmo and Apple itself have used it in payments products.
Taking advantage of the fingerprint scanning feature is Square Cash’s latest attempt to gain an edge over Venmo. Last summer, the company released another app upgrade that allows users to send cash via text message, though both sides of the transaction must have a registered Square Cash account.
Square was rumored to be planning an IPO last year, but Dorsey eventually confirmed those plans would be put on hold as the company reshuffled its executive team and refocused its efforts on expanding itself as a private business.
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