iMessage Is Opening Up For Square Cash Users (Soon)

Coming soon to an iPhone near you (literally, most likely to the one in your hand that you are reading this on right now) — Square Cash, via Apple‘s iMessage service.

As part and parcel of the announcements out of WWDC yesterday (June 13), Square is apparently wading into Apple’s now open-for-developer platform, iMessage. The hope is that programmers will start to build out apps designed specifically to run in the Apple messaging platform.

Square Cash is the payments company’s answer to P2P payments that allows any user with a credit or debit card to send money to another user. The coming functionality will allow users to download the Square Cash for iMessage app. From there, funds can flow freely — all without ever having to specifically open the app again, all functionality can be handled via iMessage.

Square Cash users will also be able to access Siri and request that “she” send funds via the payment service. Upon asking Apple’s AI, Siri will pop up on the iPhone and ask to confirm both that money is being sent and what the amount being sent is.

“We’re excited, once again, to work with Apple to make payments easier than ever, this time with Square Cash. Whether you’re using Messages or Siri to send Square Cash or paying with Apple Pay at a Square seller, Square makes payments fast and easy for Apple customers,” a spokesperson for Square said in a statement.

The new feature is expected to officially hit the streets this fall when iOS 10 officially rolls out. The announcement is somewhat surprising, as many thought Apple itself was working on a P2P extension for its own payments ambitions with Apple Pay and Square Cash would be a competitor to that service.

Competitor or not, however, Apple is late to the game in letting people send money (or transact commerce) via its mobile messaging, as many other messaging firms are already well-established in the P2P funds movement game. Snapchat uses Square’s technology; Facebook built its own P2P payments system into its messaging app, as did China’s WeChat app.