Google has today announced that Gmail users can now send money via the Gmail app on their Android devices. This is essentially the result of the Gmail app gaining support for Google Wallet and marks the next step in the evolution of the pairing of Gmail and Google Wallet. As the ability to send money via Gmail has been available to Gmail users since 2013, but only through the desktop version of Gmail. Today’s announcement sees that support now rolling out to Android devices, although it is only currently available to Gmail users located in the US.
To be able to send money via the Gmail Android application, the process is largely the same as when you are sending anything through Gmail, via an attachment. Once the attachment button is pressed, in addition to the number of already-established options, the new “send money” option will also now be present. Once clicked, the Google Wallet integrated feature will show up allowing the user to input the amount, choose which Google Wallet payment option to us, and add a short message to go along with the payment. Google has also noted that money can be exchanged with anyone, and not just recipients who use Gmail.
As you might expect from such a service, in addition to actually being able to send money, Gmail users on Android, can also now request money from within the app. This works in much the same way, although instead of hitting the “send money” option from the attachment drop down menu, the user hits the “request money” option. Whether you are the recipient of a ‘send money’ email or someone who has ‘requested’ funds, once the transaction has been completed, the recipient is then able to transfer the funds directly to their bank account. Google notes that there are no fees involved on either the sender or receiver side, it is free for both parties. You can check out examples of how the service works in the images below, or of course, wait for the update to arrive for your Gmail Android app – which should be incoming fairly soon.
