Can you send money through Apple Pay in Canada?

Can You Send Money Through Apple Pay in Canada?

The short answer is no. While Apple Pay is a widely accepted payment method in Canada for purchases in stores, online, and in apps, its peer-to-peer money transfer functionality, including the Apple Cash card, remains unavailable north of the border. This feature, which allows users to send and receive money directly through the Messages app, is currently exclusive to the United States.

Apple facilitates these transactions in the US through a partnership with Green Dot Bank. This partnership is key to the Apple Cash card functionality, which acts as a virtual prepaid debit card within Apple Pay, allowing users to store received funds and spend them directly.

Although Apple continues to expand the reach of its Business Chat feature – allowing users to communicate directly with businesses through iMessage – this functionality doesn’t extend to personal money transfers. Canadian users, therefore, can’t use Apple Pay to send money to friends or family, split bills, or request payments like their American counterparts.

While the reason for this limitation isn’t officially stated by Apple, it likely involves a complex interplay of factors including financial regulations, banking partnerships, and market priorities. Canada’s distinct banking landscape and regulations likely require a separate set of agreements and infrastructure compared to the US.

This leaves Canadian Apple users reliant on alternative methods for peer-to-peer payments, such as Interac e-Transfer, which is deeply ingrained in the Canadian financial system, or other popular apps like PayPal and Venmo.

Whether Apple Pay’s money transfer feature will eventually become available in Canada remains to be seen. While the demand arguably exists, the timeline for implementation, if any, is unknown. For now, Canadian users will have to continue using existing solutions for sending and receiving money.