Digital revolution or digitalization is changing every part of our lives and makes it better and easier for everyone in one way or another. We’re living in a world of endless possibilities, aren’t we?
For example, you can buy a new car, carry out meetings, discover new places, book tickets, order food, and transfer and get money right from your smartphone. It sounds so impressive. Let’s focus more on sending and receiving money via instant p2p payment apps. They’ve already become a new world in the banking sphere.
Table of contents
What are p2p payment apps? Types of p2p payment systems Why should you invest and create a p2p payment app? Key features of a p2p mobile payment app What challenges you may face while starting a peer to peer money transfer app? How much should you invest in building an app like Venmo or Cash? How to generate revenue with a p2p payment app? Summing up
P2P systems act as a middleman between people to transfer and receive electronic money. Thanks to person- to - person payment apps, sending money to friends, relatives, and contractors has never been easier. These systems have continued a trend of cashlessness and made a huge impact on how money transfers are made.
P2P apps are popular among young people who show more trust in sharing their bank data with apps than our less tech-savvy older generation. So while building a p2p payment app, mind your target users and make it up-to-date and trendy.
Independent p2p payment systems
In this case, p2p vendors develop their own mechanisms to support money transfers. As a rule, independent p2p payment systems feature an electronic wallet to facilitate users to store money before they transfer them to their bank accounts or send them to their peers.
PayPal and Venmo are the brightest examples of standalone p2p payment services. Did you know that PayPal is present in over 202 countries with more than 250 million users ?
Statista
And Venmo, owned by PayPal, is the fastest-growing p2p payment app that generated 24+ billion in the second quarter of 2019. Thus, this market segment is only growing, jump in before it isn’t too late to make a mobile payment p2p app.
Bank-centric p2p payment systems
Unlike independent p2p systems, bank-centric applications involve banks as one of the parties in the transactions. And hereБ we can also set off two types of bank-centric p2p payment systems - banks with their own mobile apps and p2p payment mobile apps that send and receive money via partner banks and credit unions.
For example, Zelle is a secure platform brought up by US banking institutes matching the highest security standards. It allows for drawing and depositing money directly into the bank accounts.
Social-centric p2p payment systems
In recent years, social media networks are booming and revolutionizing the world. So the payment sector has also received social-centric solutions. Snapchat launched Snapcash and then Facebook announced and integrated the payment feature. Unfortunately, Facebook didn’t come off with flying colors and has to shut down in 2018.
According to the latest market insights, there will be a huge growth and demand for p2p mobile app solutions. Taking into account the past few years, p2p apps have gained tremendous traction when compared to bank payment apps. Since 2015, mobile banking apps have been losing traction according to SensorTower’s report . So why not invest in building p2p applications and take the house?
SensorTower
Have you got any idea of what makes p2p payment apps so popular? You're right. Their ease of use. Users can send and receive money with one tap. Having linked accounts once, users can enjoy secure, swift and convenient money transfers.
Key features of a p2p mobile payment app
Before building your p2p applications, we’re going to thoroughly analyze the market and find out what features your app should have to win over users and become a top p2p payment app. Here’re some basic features your app should have to ensure a seamless user experience.
Notifications
Notifications are vital for all common p2p payment apps. They alert users when they get a payment or when someone requested a payment.
Moreover, your app can notify users of any wallet activity to minimize financial fraud. Most present-day payment apps also send notifications for bill due date as well as ticket bookings.
Development time: 30 hours
Send a bill or invoice
It would be great if users can scan bills and send them to the person who needs to make the payment. Moreover, consider adding invoice creation to generate invoices and get paid.
Development time: 80 hours
History
Keeping track of all transactions is a must for all apps dealing with finance. Users will be able to see the total of all their past transactions and when they’re made.
Development time: 40 hours
Registration and Two-Step Verification
Every p2p payment app should be secure so there should be a unique ID or One-time password (OTP) to get users verified. To make apps even more secure, some p2p payment systems ask for OTP every time when a user opens the app.
Development time: 60 hours
Sync with bank accounts
Frankly speaking, users hanker for direct sync with their banking accounts. In other words, provide users with the flexibility of transferring money from the app to the bank account and vice versa.
Development time: 80 hours
Fingerprint as a security lock
Security measures cannot be too many. Since all payment and banking apps are prone to risks as they feature important bank credentials, so foolproof security is a must. While building an online payment app, consider adding a fingerprint lock to your apps. The following lock will ensure that only the owner of the phone can access your p2p payment app.
Development time: 10 hours
Chatbot
Chatbots are proven useful when it comes to solving problems with wrong deductions, money transfers, etc.
Development time: 60 hours
Note, these are basic features you need to consider while creating a p2p payment app for iOS and Android. But to make your app stand out from the crowd, you need to thank far out of the box and find out unique and valuable features to add to your payment app.
Read also: How to make an app?
What challenges you may face while starting a peer to peer money transfer app?
Mobile app development is much tougher than you may think. Without diving deeply into app development issues, developing a mobile app is a tedious and multi-stage process. So let’s find out what burdens you may face when creating a p2p payment app for Android or iOS.
Technical issues
Security is your top concern you have to face when it comes to building p2p applications. The following apps contain lots of personal and confidential data under one roof and lure hackers from all over the world. Thus, p2p payment apps are always at risk.
Did you know that hackers can break even the most secured and renowned platforms like PayPal in a few hours? So, app security is the thing you shouldn’t compromise while building apps similar to the Cash app.PCI DSS compliance is the most important one. There are some criteria your app should meet:
1. You should to store and process private information in a secure way
Currency conversion is another challenge you may face while making an app similar to Venmo. It’s a real challenge since there are more than 180 currencies all over the world. Moreover, you should ensure that currency conversions, as well as money transfer, takes place nearly in real-time.
Non-technical or side challenges
Geographical limitations are what you should also take into consideration before going in for electronic payment apps development. Nowadays, p2p payment apps are still restricted by geographic locations. There are few person-to-person payment apps for iPhone or Android that can send money out of the country. To stay on top of the market, you should find out how to overcome geographical restrictions and make your payment app international.
Along with geographical restrictions, you should also get around slow-changing mindset. In other words, a vast majority of people (so-called late majority) prefer using traditional ways of payments - cash or bank. And the reason why people prefer cash to p2p mobile apps is clear as a day - they don’t trust their confidential financial data to any service.
Payment p2p app development isn’t an easy task but with Mova.io’s development team, you won’t be stressed at all. Drop us a line and let’s develop your p2p app.
How much should you invest in building an app like Venmo or Cash?
Building fintech software is always an expensive journey, and it requires a lot of expertise and research to develop a top-notch p2p payment app that will be more successful than Venmo and Cash. We’ve found out top essential features that are vital for user experience and make a payment app safe and convenient. Here’s what we came up with (important: example estimations are for one platform: iOS or Android):
Hours
$$$
Notifications
30
$1,050
Send a bill or invoice
80
$2,800
Transaction history
40
$1,400
Users' ID or OTP
60
$2,100
Sync with bank
80
$2,800
Fingerprint lock
10
$350
Chatbot
60
$2,100
Currency converter
20
$700
Don’t forget that these numbers are ballpark. The development cost depends on lots of factors including how big your development team will be, how many platforms you’re going to reach, what additional features you want to add, etc. If you’re interested in mobile payment app development, get in touch with us and grab your free estimate of a project.
How to generate revenue with a p2p payment app?
Everyone who uses mobile apps regularly knows about advertising banners and pop-up ad windows within apps. This is how most mobile apps make money. When it comes to p2p payment apps, they cannot make money through built-in advertising and other ways suitable for most mobile applications.
Instead of this, payment apps generate some revenue through transaction fees. For example, you can charge a small fee of around 1-3% for any payments. Or you can set up a monthly fee that users will pay regardless of any transactions made.
Summing up
Taking into account all p2p payment app opportunities, it’s high time to invest and develop your mobile app solution for person-to-person money transfers. At mova.io , we know how to develop the most secure and swift mobile payment app and at a fair price.
Have a question? Just write to us at:
📮 mail@mova.io
