In 2014, Snapchat partnered with Square to create an easy-to-use mobile payment system. For about four years, users were able to send and receive money through Snapcash. However, this service is no longer available as of the end of August 2018.
As inconvenient as it is, there’s no need to worry about money being sent via Snapcash before discontinuation. Also, there is a peer-to-peer mobile payment app that Snapchat recommends as a good alternative.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what happened to the money you’ve previously sent. You will also find a section on how to use the Cash App (the aforementioned alternative).
Where did all the money go?
Before the outage, you just had to add your debit card to your Snapchat account to start receiving or sending money. From there, the whole process was easy. Like PayPal, you could receive money even if you hadn’t linked your debit card.
Walk into any chat and you’ll be able to type a dollar sign and tap a button to send money. If you were on the receiving end, Snapchat would send you a notification and the money would be immediately deposited into your account.
Sounds pretty good right? Except that the first rumors about the service interruption appeared in early July 2018. And Snapcash only continued to work until August 30, 2018.
If you hadn’t had a linked debit card, you had 48 hours to do so if you wanted to withdraw the cash. Otherwise, the money would be returned to the sender. As a Snapcash user, you will be able to preview your transaction history for a month after closing before it disappears.
How to use the cash app
According to Snapchat, Snapcash was also available through the Cash App. You might like the app if you are an avid Snapcash user. Here’s how to use this payment system:
Step 1
Download and install the app and use the in-app wizard to link the app to your bank account (debit/credit card). After that, it’s easy to request or send money.
Step 2
To request money in the cash app, just type the desired amount and press Request (bottom left) and then enter the sender ID and purpose. The app allows you to request by sender’s $Cashtag, email, name, or phone number. When you’re ready, tap Request in the top right corner. Sending money with the cash app is similar to requesting money. But before you hit Pay, tap on the dropdown menu at the top of the screen to select your preferred payment method.
Cash App Useful Features and Settings
Compared to the discontinued Snapcash, Cash App comes with more payment options. For example, the app offers users a free Visa debit card that they can use to withdraw money at an ATM.
To preview/change the settings, tap the profile icon in the top left corner. The next menu allows you to set up a security lock, which can be a cash PIN or fingerprint scanner. You can preview your funds and linked cards/bank accounts from the same menu.
Cash App is also compatible with Bitcoin, and you can buy the cryptocurrency through the app. If you want to add more payment methods, tap Add bank under Funds and fill in the account information.
The Automatically Add Cash option is also available and you can set it for various conditions, such as a certain frequency or when your balance is low. Of course, you can cancel the feature at any time.
Among other things, the app also allows you to customize your privacy settings, change your profile information, and much more.
Why Snapchat canceled Snapcash
The company has not made a public announcement about why it decided to discontinue the peer-to-peer payment service, nor has it reported Snapcash usage statistics.
But one could guess that perhaps it’s because Snapchat has (probably inadvertently) become the place to market amateur adult content. As a result, some users may have abused Snapcash to obtain explicit images of other users.
Cha-Ching, you got cash
Given the fact that mobile payments are on the rise, it’s surprising that Snapchat decided to cancel Snapcash. Additionally, a code leak revealed that you could use the Snapchat camera to scan products and be taken directly to Amazon results.
This isn’t quite the same as Snapcash, but it could be some kind of e-commerce marketing. When all is said and done, you better check out the cash app if you have a soft spot for Snapcash.
