Privacy is the secret sauce that makes Apple Pay Cash special

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Apple Pay Cash
Apple Pay Cash has one big advantage over its rivals.
Photo: Apple

From Apple Pay Cash to Venmo, there’s a growing number of peer-to-peer payment services that allow you to send cash to your friends. But which one is the safest to use?

Respected product testing publication Consumer Reports recently tested out the main apps in this space — including Apple Pay Cash, Venmo, Square Cash, Facebook Messenger, and Zelle. Although the report says that all of them work, Apple Pay Cash has one very important selling point that gives it the edge over its rivals.

That’s because Apple’s privacy policies limit the information Apple Pay Cash gathers from users about their payments. As Consumer Reports writes:

“Apple Pay was the only service that got top marks from CR for data privacy, because its policies state that it limits the information it collects and shares on users and their transactions. It doesn’t store credit card or debit card numbers, and it states in the terms and conditions that it doesn’t sell users’ personal information to third parties, CR found.”

In fact, the roundup described only one “major drawback” for Apple Pay Cash: the fact that it requires you to use an Apple device. That wasn’t enough to stop the publication from awarding Apple a significantly higher rating than any of the other apps tested, though.

While the roundup did have a few notable absences (including Google Pay’s recent money-sending feature), this score definitely represents a big checkmark in Apple’s “win” category.

Apple Pay Cash
How Apple Pay Cash stacks up.
Photo: Consumer Reports

Apple’s belief in privacy

Apple has long been a big believer in consumer privacy, particularly compared to other tech giants which rely on the monetizing of user data.

On Apple’s website it states how the company, “believes privacy is a fundamental human right.” To that end, “every Apple product is designed to minimize the collection and use of your data, use on-device processing whenever possible, and provide transparency and control over your information.”

Apple rolled out its Apple Pay Cash service to customers in the U.S. at the end of last year.

Source: Consumer Reports

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