`OK, Google, send cash to my friend': Google Assistant lets you use voice to pay back IOUs
The Google Assistant can now help you pay back the money you owe a friend. Google announced that starting today you’ll be able to send or request money from the contacts on your Android device or iPhone, via a voice command along the lines of “Hey Google, send Janie $15 for lunch today.”
Similar peer-to-peer functionality will be coming to Google Home or other smart speakers with the Google Assistant in the coming months, Google says.
Google is actually playing catch-up to Apple, which has been letting you make such payments through Siri since late last year. But Google is ahead of Amazon, which is expected to similarly let Alexa handle such friend-to-friend cash transactions.
Of course, the P2P payments space is already crowded through the likes of Square, Venmo, Zelle and PayPal.
Google’s new feature is tied to Google Pay, a brand created recently out of what had been Android Pay and Google Wallet. Google has a long and somewhat confusing history in the payment space.
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You’ll be prompted to sign up for Google Pay and link a debit card (if you haven’t already), the first time you try to send or request money through the Assistant.
You can’t do everything by voice however; you’ll have to authenticate any transactions through your Google account password or fingerprint.
According to Google, funds will be transferred almost instantaneously, even if your pal doesn’t have a Google Pay account. If they do have the Google Pay app, he or she will receive an email, text, or notification alerting them that they can cash out. Recipients of a transfer who don’t have an account will be prompted to create one to claim the funds.
You can send up to $9,999 in a single transaction or up to $10,000 within a seven days period. If you live in Florida, you can send up to $3,000 every 24 hours.
Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow Paste BN Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter