Apple Pay has been named as the best peer-to-peer or P2P payment service following a test from trusted consumer website Consumer Reports.
Apple Pay scored 76 points or a Very Good rating, being the highest score in a series of tests against competing services Venmo, Cash App from Square, Facebook P2P Payments in Messenger and Zelle.
Top of the class
The test criteria were based on payment authentication, data privacy, data security, customer support and broad access.
Apple Pay led the way in the payment authentication and data privacy sections. Consumer reports found: “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.
The tests also found that Apple Pay cash was the only service that required additional security layers such as PIN numbers and two-factor authentication. Most of the other services offered them but required users to opt into those controls which could leave users vulnerable if they didn’t activate them or use them.
Functions seamlessly
An Apple spokesperson welcomed the findings and told Consumer Reports: “Apple Pay Cash is unique from an ease of use, privacy, and security standpoint, as Apple Pay Cash functions seamlessly through hardware, software, and the service all combined”.
Following its launch in 2014, Apple Pay now has an estimated 127m global users across 30 countries and areas of the world. According to eMarketer, a market research company, an estimated 79 million adult Americans will use P2P payment services this year, an increase of 24% on the previous year.