App of the Week

Cash by Square

Ladies,

Do you remember a few ago, a company named Square came up with a way to allow us to process credit card payments on our phones? All you had to do was buy the cute little attachment that you plug into the headphone jack and BAM!!! you could swipe your friend’s credit card for the $10 she owed you for the movie you saw last week. It was long before businesses, large and small,  saw the potential for this technology and Square readers started showing up in restaurants and boutiques. Based on the success of their reader and App, the Square people went back to their drawing boards and came up with something even better.

They call it Cash and it’s spectacular. Seriously. I’m a self proclaimed digital hoarder who downloads the top 10 fee apps every week just to try them out and it’s rare for an App to make a significant impact on my life, but that’s what Cash did.  No more having to remember to write a check for this or remembering to stop by the ATM to get cash for that.  If you have a smartphone with the Cash App, you’re all set. The app works with credit cards and debit cards. Once you record the cards number into the settings and you’re good to go. The key, though, is making sure the people you want to share Cash with also have the app installed on their phones. The cool thing is the app will ask permission to look at your contacts and will tell you if anyone you know is already using it.  What I love most about it, aside from it’s ease of use, is the record it keeps for you of who you paid and who paid you. So, if you’re a meticulous record keeper, you can refer to it later when reconciling your transactions.

I highly recommend it for paying babysitters, dance teachers, dog walkers, personal trainers and family members. It’s a great way to pay older kids their allowance if they have a phone too.  Cash has become so popular they have recently added a business account feature, which is awesome for the small business owner.

Cash by Square is a Free App and is available in the Apple’s App store for iPhones and in Google Play for Android phones.