Banking on the popularity of digital payment wallets in India, Google launched its Tez digital payments app in the country in September last year. The Facebook-owned WhatsApp has also been testing a similar feature on its platform since last year. Now, several beta testers of WhatsApp on both Android and iOS have reported that the WhatsApp Payments feature is now live in India on their devices.
Since the WhatsApp Payments feature is currently is in beta, the company hasn’t announced an official rollout of this functionality. However, screenshots posted by several WhatsApp beta users on Twitter have revealed how this feature works. The app supports most of the banks operating in the country. The feature is powered by the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) standard, which is a government initiative.
If you are a WhatsApp beta user on Android or iOS, you can update to the latest version of the app from the Google Play and App Store respectively. The new feature seems to be available on WhatsApp version 2.18.21 for iOS and 2.18.41 for Android. After updating the app, you can access the new function in a chat window through the Attachments menu. You will find this feature available alongside other options such as Gallery, Video, Documents etc. After clicking on Payments, you will see a disclaimer pop up, followed by a list of banks to choose from.
In the disclaimer window, you can select your bank from the dropdown menu. After selecting the bank, you will need to link your bank account using UPI. If you don’t have a UPI account, you will need to create one using a secure authentication pin. After the process is completed, you will be able to send money to a recipient on the app. Both the sender and receiver need to have the WhatsApp Payments feature on their app to successfully transact on it.
It’s worth noting that the WhatsApp Payments feature isn’t live for all beta testers of the app on Android or iOS. There’s no word when the functionality will be available for all WhatsApp users at the moment.
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