WhatsApp on Tuesday introduced Payments Backgrounds in India to upgrade the experience of money transfers on its platform. The new feature is aimed to deliver a personalised payments experience to WhatsApp users. It lets you select a relevant background when you are sending money to your friends or family using WhatsApp Payments. The experience is live for both Android and iPhone users in the country. WhatsApp says that the core idea through the Payments Background feature is to add an element of expression when users are exchanging money on the platform with their friends and family.
WhatsApp Introduces Payment Backgrounds
To get started, you will have to create a recipient list and then select the "In this case, I want to send this to" option. This will create a payment interface and after that, you will have to simply choose which background you want to send the money to. The listing of background colour along with a preview of the setting is available to choose from. After that, simply tap on the green check button to apply the selected background and once done, the Money tab will be updated. This will show the final settings such as the fee, amount, category, description, and a confirmation message. The recipient, too, will get an update as soon as the payments have been made. To recall, WhatsApp had announced its Payments platform in India in December.
What is WhatsApp Payments?
In a blog post on Tuesday, the Facebook-owned company announced that the Payments Background feature will help customers send money to their friends and family. "These features are rolling out soon to everyone using the WhatsApp Payments app in India," the post read. It also mentioned that WhatsApp Payments will now enable users to split bills, with a friend and share a vacation with them, and book a ticket on the platform. It even allows users to invite their friends or family members as Secret Contacts for sharing payments with people that they wouldn't be able to find through the app. The Payments Background feature is powered by Recycle Master, a company that works on the virtual rewards that are similar to Pokemon Go's Candy for WhatsApp transactions.
How does the new feature work?
Before this, you used to just choose a contact's contact details, but with the new Payments Background feature, you can select a background to help convey a unique look. You can select as many as eight different background options for each contact, such as an image of their favourite place or a classic cartoon that captures their personality. In order to access Payments Background feature, you need to send money to your contact on WhatsApp. When you choose the Payment option, you are asked to tap on Payment to reveal the new option. "You can select an image, sticker or GIF from a selection of colour options and add your own personal touch.
Why did WhatsApp introduce this feature?
WhatsApp says the Payments Background feature allows users to express their personality with each transaction by choosing a pre-determined background or border. "The background and border that a customer chooses has to be set on their end - one needs to go to 'Profile' in the Settings menu to select a background, and set the color, shape and alignment of the border. Once this is done, WhatsApp doesn't change this choice unless a user changes the size, shape, color or alignment," WhatsApp explained in its blog post. This feature is currently available in India only and will be rolling out to other markets in the coming months.
What are the other features in the update?
WhatsApp says that you can now choose a Payments Background that you want to use in the payment interface. The update includes features like Payment Details, Refund Information, To Buy Amount, Transaction Type, and Check balance, and more. Payment Details are used for transaction history as well. These features are already present in WhatsApp's UPI-enabled app JioMoney. In other words, you can directly choose Payment Details for the UPI-based payments for JioMoney right from WhatsApp. To enable the Payment Background, all you need to do is tap the "Image" button from the Sending money page of the app and choose the Background image. In the menu that pops up, you will also find three menu options to choose from. The options are Buy from, Send Money to, and Send to whom.
Conclusion
The Payments Background feature on WhatsApp is a great addition that is bound to make the experience of money transfers on the app much better. At the moment, the company is enabling this feature only for Android users in India. However, it has not revealed any information on when and if it plans to bring this feature to iOS users as well. "We wanted to make sure that the payments experience on WhatsApp was designed with your relationships in mind, which is why we're introducing Payments Backgrounds - a new way to personalise the UI of money transfers.
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