Circle Pay is an Android app that wants to make it nice and easy to request money from friends and family, split a bill or reimburse a friend for that late-night pizza you didn’t have any cash to pay for. It works in both the US as well as the UK and it works perfectly with just a Debit or Credit Card as well as Bitcoin. Circle Pay is an app that wants to spice up the act of sending people money and splitting the bill, it’s not only super-secure and 100% fee-free, but it allows users to chat together and even send GIFs to make dealing with money that little bit nicer. Designed as a way to make sending money to each other nice and simple, Circle Pay keeps your information and actions private, there are real people on the other end to talk to should something go wrong and signing up is a real cinch.
Just like any other app on Android, Circle Pay is a free download from the Play Store, and once launched, users will need to either sign in or register for a new account.
Signing up is really simple, Circle Pay only asks you for an email address, your first and last name as well as a password. I can’t actually show this to you however, as the app closed off the ability to take a screenshot, which is a nice way of demonstrating that the app takes security quite so seriously, I suppose. The next step in the setup of the app is to verify your phone number, which apparently helps keep users secure.
In case you might be wondering why you might want to use Circle Pay, they’ve put together an interesting little image with some great examples, which might help put a smile on your face, too.
Users will have a profile when using Circle Pay just like any other app out there, and there’s a slide-out menu with your profile info as well as simple options to take you to key parts of the app.
Now, the whole point of Circle Pay is of course to manage money and while there are thousands of different situations and reasons why you might need to use Circle Pay for this, some examples include needing to ask your roommates for their portion of the rent, chipping in for a meal or a birthday present and so on. To do any of these, you’ll need to use the “Request Money” part of the app, which makes it nice and easy to put in the amount and then also attach a message being as polite or cheeky as you like.
Requesting money is super-quick and easy, and users can also choose a GIF from Giphy, which is a nice way of making something a little taboo like asking for money a lot more fun and lighthearted.
Sending money to someone using the web works by using an email address, but there is a way to request and send money without an email or any sort of contact details. You just need to offer up your own QR code or scan someone else’s QR code to speed up the whole process.
This is a nice way of showing readers that Circle Pay is an app that can be used with iOS as well as Android, which is a fairly crucial part of making any app useful. Regardless of whether or not you’re getting started with Android or iOS, there’s a contest that that Circle Pay is running – with more information here – which should help users get more involved with Circle Pay.
Circle Pay is the sort of app that everyone can understand and get behind, it serves a genuine purpose and gives a solution to a problem that can become quite awkward. Asking someone for money is never really that nice, but it’s something that we need to do quite often, especially if you live an active social life and have lots of family. The app itself runs well, is super-easy to get up and running and it doesn’t even require everyone you want to send money to exchange email addresses or whatever. Being able to send a personal message as well as a GIF along with a request for money is a nice touch and it’s a great way of making the act of asking for payment a hell of a lot more amiable, too. Circle Pay is also nice and secure and private as well, allowing users to use Bitcoin if they want to and the company doesn’t share your information with other people or anything else and the customer service is great, too.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – Getting set up with Circle Pay is nice and speedy and the app itself runs really speedily, too.
- Theme (4/5) – With its own look and feel independent of Android or iOS, Circle Pay looks good and the overall attitude of the app and service makes light work of an often tricky topic for some.
- Features (5/5) – With a simple sign up procedure, the ability to use any Debit or Credit Card – as well as Bitcoin – Circle Pay makes light work of asking for money and sending it to people. With extras like not needing to have or record contact details to send someone money, Circle Pay ticks all of the right boxes.
- Overall (5/5) – It’s a comprehensive payment app that looks good, works well and doesn’t ask much of their users, Circle Pay is well worth looking into, and it works wonders for those looking to make asking for money or sending money a real breeze.
Pros
- Free to download and use, Circle Pay is a great alternative to the likes of PayPal and co.
- GIF support helps to make asking for money or sending someone money great fun and more than anything a lot less awkward.
- Gives users the chance to talk about money in a separate environment from everyday chat apps, taking the stress way from friends and families.
- Works great for Debit and Credit Cards as well Bitcoin, giving users all the freedom they want in order to send money to people.
Cons
- Being able to send money to someone with a Circle Pay account can be done via Bitcoin but a solution to those without a Circle Pay account would be nice to see.
Circle Pay is the sort of app that will appeal to users that are accustomed to using an app for everything, for those users this will come naturally. Having said that Circle Pay is so easy to use that it will appeal to the majority of users once they see how easy it is to get up and running with, and it’s the sort of app that serves a genuine purpose that will make life much better for those with busy social lives and a lot of family and friends. It also works just fine with Bitcoin wallets out there as well, further offering users alternatives should they want something different.