Having already introduced Apple Pay to enable cardless payment to any of a large range of businesses, evidence has surfaced that Apple is now working towards allowing iPhone users to transfer money to each other. The Cupertino company has applied to patent a system for such transfer.
This application has been noticed by Patently Apple, which has also reported that transactions could take place through the Wallet app. Touch ID, which enables authorization through fingerprinting, could also provide for a further layer of security at both iPhones involved in a transfer. All of the data transmitted using the iPhones and the payment processor would, the patent further unsurprisingly notes, already be encrypted.
It was only yesterday that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published this patent application, and the patent was originally filed in last year’s third quarter – recent enough to convince that this system could form a major part of current plans by Apple to expand the capabilities of Apple Pay.