Facebook wants to be more than a social network with rumors of the company entering health management and now mobile payments via Facebook Messenger. Andrew Aude, a student developer at Stanford, discovered the as yet unreleased feature of Facebook Messenger by using the iOS and Mac OS X hacking tool Cycript.
@Facebook Messenger has P2P payments coming. @SquareCash style. pic.twitter.com/3NuXuuaMMC— Andrew Aude (@andyplace2) October 4, 2014
The payment service will work in the similar way that Square Cash app works. Users will hook their debit or credit cards to the apps to send money to users. The idea is brilliant because Facebook now requires the app to communicate through Facebook. Facebook’s recent hiring of former PayPal president David Marcus back in June is now showing what he will do moving forward.
While testing, Aude was reportedly only able to get debit cards to work with the system, banks accounts and credit cards did not work. “Based on my understanding of the debit interchange rates, each transaction will cost Facebook roughly $0.40 to $0.50 (Durbin swipe fee + ACH fee),” Aude told the site. ” The app didn’t mention a fee to send, so it’s probably free, at least initially. Over time they might add a $1 fee.”
This could be a huge win for Facebook is users starting using the service because everyone has Facebook. The feature should roll in the coming months meaning millions of users will have access to this easy way to pay friends. Facebook declined to comment to these rumors. Tell us in the comments below what you think about mobile payments in Facebook Messenger and if you would be willing to use the service.
I know I would take full advantage of the mobile payments if its similar to Square Cash. All of my friends use Facebook, even if they say they don’t get on, they still have an account and have the apps install on their phones. This will make it easier than trying to get friends to install another app that they will use once or twice. It will make sharing money super easy via one of the largest social networks around.