Venmo is getting a little more functionality than just splitting the bill and sending money to your friends — the PayPal-owned company announced it’s opening up third-party payment support.
What does that mean? Similar to how Apple Pay or Android Pay works, you’ll be able to pay for items in supported apps using Venmo with the tap of a button. The feature is iOS-only at the moment and only works with two apps at the moment.
“When selecting a payment method within a merchant’s app, simply tap the Venmo button,” Michael Vaughan, Venmo’s general manager, said in the blog post announcement. “Your Venmo account will be instantly connected to the app and you will be all set to pay — without the hassle of re-entering your payment information.”
Orders made with Venmo in third-party apps will have their details stored in the Venmo app under user’s purchase history.
Unfortunately, as of now, this feature only works with Gametime and Munchery. Gametime lets you buy concert and sports tickets last minute at low prices, and Munchery is a food delivery service. Venmo says “more merchants and additional functionality” are coming soon, and while the feature is only available to “select users,” as in beta, the peer-to-peer payments company says it will continue to add new users regularly as it receives more feedback.
While it’s incredibly small-scale with a slow rollout right now, the new implementation puts PayPal’s Venmo in direct competition with the plethora of mobile payment systems in other apps like Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Visa Check.
