What is Facebook Pay: Here’s is all you need to know

At a time when digital payments are on the rise and are fuelling the digital economy, Facebook has also jumped the digital payments bandwagon and has announced Facebook Pay -- a simple and secure payment feature that will allow users to pay digitally across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Facebook already allows users to donate to causes and send money to each other, the social media giant has designed Facebook Pay to make these transactions easier while protecting your payment information.

Facebook Pay can be used on all the compatible apps where Facebook Pay is available. You no longer need to re-enter your payment information each time to make payments and purchases across the Facebook apps ecosystem.

The company allows you to either set up Facebook Pay per-app basis or you can set it up for individual apps. You can view payment history, manage payment methods and update your settings in one place. The feature is currently rolled out in the US and will make its way to India soon.

Facebook Pay can be used for fundraisers, in-game purchases, event tickets, person-to-person payments on Messenger and purchases from select Pages and businesses on Facebook Marketplace.

Once rolled out, here is how to set it up.

Head over to the settings, then go to Facebook Pay, select add a payment method. And then the next time you will initiate a payment, you can use Facebook Pay. According to Facebook, Facebook Pay supports most credit and debit cards as well as PayPal and the company processes payments in partnership with companies like PayPal, Stripe, and others around the world. Users can also add a PIN or use your device biometrics, such as touch or face ID recognition, for an extra layer of security when sending money or making a payment.

At a recent earnings call, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that despite the data compliance issues from the Indian government, the company has completed testing WhatsApp Pay with over a million people in the country and the service will now be launched soon. Additionally, one of the big four consultancies is also reported to be conducting an audit on the security compliance of WhatsApp Pay.

‘We’re very optimistic that we’re going to be able to launch to everyone in India soon but, of course, will share more news when we have that,’ Zuckerberg said.

In India, WhatsApp has over 400 million Indian users. Other big tech giants including Google has already launched their payment platform Google Pay in India. Once launched, WhatsApp will join the league of PhonePe, and Paytm that are already offering UPI-based payment transactions.

We believe, WhatsApp Pay will be rolled out by the end of 2019.