Snapchat unveiled a new service in partnership with Square that allows users to transfer funds to friends.
Over the last year Snapchat has evolved from a system that allows users to communicate through photos that self-destruct after 10 seconds, to a full on chat messaging system that flashed pictures and videos for 10 seconds at a time. Now the social sharing app, which has been the target of numerous security hacks, is offering a new service: Payment transfers between users’ bank accounts.
Officials with Snapchat announced on the company’s blog (with a ridiculously cheesy video, no less) that it has partnered with Square to create Snapcash.
To use the service, consumers have to enter their debit card into Snapchat, then swipe into chat, type the dollar sign and an amount, and finally hit the green button.
After that, Square processes the payment, sending cash to your friend’s bank account.
In addition to processing the payments, Square will also be in charge of storing users’ card numbers.
“We set out to make payments faster and more fun, but we also know that security is essential when you’re dealing with money,” the company wrote in the blog post. “Square has a ton of experience in this area and our teams have been hard at work to make Snapcash a great experience for everyone.”
For now the service is available to Snapchat users in the United States who have debit cards and are 18 years of age or older.
While officials with Snapchat make it clear that consumers’ personal financial information is stored through Square, the company’s history of security breaches could be enough to make anyone leery using the messaging service to transfer money.
Back in January, 4.6 million Snapchat phone numbers and usernames were leaked online. Shortly after the breach, the company created a more secure version of its app.
However, the following month users were bombarded by spam photos of smoothies in what appeared to be another hack.
And just last month photos from 200,000 Snapchat users were made available for download online, in what the company says was a result of consumers using third-party apps to access the program.
For all those inquisitive minds here’s a look at the gloriously bad Snapcash announcement video:
Introducing Snapcash [Snapchat]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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