Google Pay Send - Review 2022

Google Wallet is now Google Pay Send. It's the app and service from the search ad giant that lets you send coin to acquaintances, just similar Venmo. It joins apparently-sometime Google Pay, the signal-of-sale piece of the company'southward rebranded online payment app and service strategy. Pay Send works on both Android and iOS, as well as from a web browser. Information technology's a good pick, because there's no fees and money goes right into the recipient'due south account. Unfortunately, Google Pay Send doesn't permit yous apply a credit card, and is limited compared with our Editors' Choices, Venmo and Samsung Pay.

Getting Started

Google Pay Transport is available for iOS viii.0 or afterward and Android 4.1 and later. On the iPhone Ten I tested it with, Google Pay Send was a 75MB download, and on a Samsung Galaxy Note 8, the app was a mere 5.9MB. Neither is probable to overload your phone's memory, but it seems likely that Google's mobile operating arrangement includes back up that needs to exist added on Apple devices. On beginning run, the app shows a cursory animation explaining what you can exercise with information technology—send money to and receive coin from friends. Google Pay Send 1

Of course, yous also need a Google account, and you demand to link your account to your funds, either past entering your bank information or storing debit card information. If you've already prepare Google Pay or Google Wallet, you don't take to enter a carte du jour again. If not, it's the usual drill of snapping a photo of the card and entering verification data. You tin can add multiple payment sources, but they tin only exist debit cards and bank accounts, non credit cards. Apple tree Pay, Venmo, and others let you use a credit bill of fare as well. Google Pay Ship pulls straight from the sources y'all choose, and dumps funds directly into recipients' bank accounts.

Google Pay Send has a $9,999 single-transaction limit, and you can't send more than than $50,000 per 5-mean solar day period. That eclipses what competitors, such as Square Cash and the Editors' Choice accolade-winning Venmo allow in a week ($2,500 and $2,999, respectively).

Similar Square Cash, Google Pay Send imposes no fees, because it just supports debit cards. Venmo charges a two.nine percent fee when you lot use a credit card, though that's due to the card issuer, not the payment app.

Facebook Messenger besides boasts person-to-person mobile payments, only information technology has a few differentiators that separate information technology from Google Pay Send, most notably that it just works inside the messaging app. That's an advantage, since it ways you lot don't take to install a split app, and nearly of your contacts already have an account.

Mobile Payment Mambo

Google Pay Transport is extremely like shooting fish in a barrel to navigate. Performing transactions used to require excavation through several layers of menus. Now, you tin can exchange coin with friends right on the main screen through the Venmo-inspired interface, as long equally you have your friend's email address. Google Pay Sent On showtime utilize, the app requested that I allow it access to my contacts. I as well had to verify my proper name, the terminal four digits of my SSN, and my DOB. You lot can also bank check a box stating you lot may use the service for receiving commercial payments. Corporations and nonprofits aren't permitted.

Your money recipient doesn't accept to be in your contacts, notwithstanding; yous tin can simply enter an email address or mobile phone number. Before sending, the app pops up a alert to the upshot that you should only pay people you know, to avoid scams. The sending page says "Candy by Google Payment Corp." You can include a notation nearly the payment, something most peer-to-peer payments offer, but in that location's no Venmo-fashion social network, which could exist a good thing or a bad affair, depending on your perspective.

You lot tin can cancel a payment before information technology's been accepted a plus it shares with Zelle. To merits the money, recipients have to set up their ain Google Pay account. When a payment is claimed, the app offers to remind y'all if you desire to make similar payments regularly. The recipient needn't transfer the money to their bank account as is required past Venmo and other payment apps—it'south deposited within 24 hours. Unclaimed cash comes dorsum to you later two weeks. Transactions are all recorded for time to come reference.

Google Pay Send lets you send cash via SMS messages similarly to the fashion you tin can in Venmo, Foursquare Cash, and Facebook Messenger (though that's through its own messages rather than SMS). If y'all send money through a text, the other party receives a secure link to the funds. They then tap the link, log into Google and enter their bank data. It'south unproblematic and convenient, although nosotros wouldn't arraign someone for non trusting a text essentially saying, "Click here to get money."

When requesting funds, yous tin specify up to five debtors. The coin is transferred in the same way, but a nice piddling bear on is a Ship reminder button, which sends a notification and email to the delinquent dirtbag.

Payment Extras

The only payment frill offered past the app is the power to split payments, but strangely, this option only showed upwards on my iPhone, non on the Android phone. I entered a coin amount, so was able to enter more than than ten email addresses to share the toll. Google Pay Send Interface

Options in Settings include requiring a iv-digit Pin for all payments and notifications about transactions, but that's pretty standard fare.

When it comes using the service on the web, you can practice everything you tin practise in the app on the service'southward website, which is just called Google Pay, even though information technology'south limited to Google Pay Transport functionality. In fact, the Settings on the spider web version all refer to Google Pay Send.

Like to the way Apple tree Pay uses Siri to let you pay friends with your voice, you tin (as of late March 2022) at present use Google Assistant on certain Android phones and iPhones to pay with Google Pay Send. Note that the service doesn't work with Siri herself, as Venmo and Square Cash practice.

You can apply the service from some pricey smartwatches from Tag Heuer, Louis Vuitton, and Movado, and some more than affordable models from Huawei and LG. Your intrepid reviewer has not yet taken these out for a spin.

Security and Privacy

The trade-off of diving too deep into any digital ecosystem, especially one as data-hungry every bit Google'due south, is figuring out how much privacy you're willing to cede for convenience. The stakes are that much college when dealing with financial data. Fortunately, you tin can lock all your cards saved on Google Pay Send behind a PIN.

Google also secures the service with what it calls "multiple layers of security, using one of the earth'southward most advanced security infrastructures." But the company isn't forthcoming nearly details beyond that. But that's not plenty, according to a Google support webpage, "Google Pay Fraud Protection covers 100 percent of all verified unauthorized transactions."

While we trust Google to keep sensitive information safe from criminals, nosotros don't necessarily trust Google to keep sensitive information condom from the advertisers that pay the visitor's bills. The Google Payments privacy policy states that your payment info volition only be shared with Google companies, but think, DoubleClick is a Google company, forth with many others.

Drawbacks

Finally let's recount the app's limitations: It just works in the United states of america, different options such as Xoom and PayPal, which work in many countries and with many currencies. NFC payments, gift cards, and customer loyalty program management, aren't part of its armory, only are now handled separately past the Android-merely Google Pay. Google too abandoned the concrete Google Wallet Card, and so there's no longer a piece of plastic tied to your account that tin be used similar a debit menu. Among popular payment services we've tested, only Square Greenbacks offers a physical payment card now.

Back to Basics

After complaining about the last Google Wallet feeling too stuffed, dinging it for removing features might sound hypocritical. Nevertheless, the problem was never that the app did too much, rather that it but dumped all that functionality on the user in a confusing way. The straightforward interface of the new Google Pay Send is an comeback. Though the classification might be confusing, peradventure splitting Google's mobile-payment platform into two perfectly practiced apps with articulate purposes—Google Pay Send for paying friends and Google Pay for paying businesses—is a smart motion. But that choice also means that each app, individually, is at present less capable. Venmo, is our electric current Editors' Choice for person-to-person payments, and Samsung Pay is our in-shop payment app pick.