Facebook Messenger Gets Group Payments Support

Facebook has rolled out group payments feature within its Messenger app, allowing users to pay either everyone in the group or individual members. Available on Android and desktop as of now, group payments has been live in the US since Tuesday. There's no word on when it will be released for iOS.

Users can also request payments from the group right from chat, Facebook revealed in a blog post. Users can enter the amount they want to request from each person or the total amount to be divided evenly by the group members. They can also mention in a note about what the money is for.

Explaining how to use the feature, Facebook said:

"Simply tap on the plus sign in the bottom left hand corner of a group conversation to find more features, and tap the payments icon ($). Then, choose who to send or request money from. You can choose everyone in the group or only a few members. Enter the amount you want to request per person or the total sum to divide evenly, either including yourself in the calculation or not. Finally, you can specify what the money is for - maybe a pizza party, teacher gift or more. Once you're ready, tap Request."

"To make it super simple to keep track of everything, a message will appear in the group conversation showing who has paid. At any time, you can also view the Request Details in full-screen."

A free service, group payments in Facebook Messenger does not require users to remember their debit card information - which the company says is stored securely.

Facebook had introduced person-to-person payments within Messenger in early 2015. Now the decision to expand the feature to group payments coincides the time when Facebook is rumoured to be preparing the launch of a digital payments business in India within its other messaging app, WhatsApp.

Written with inputs from IANS