How to Pay With Digital Cash, and Why You Should (or Shouldn’t)

Convenience is the chief selling point — but make sure you are paying the right person

Edward C. Baig,

AARP

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Published September 16, 2025

two hands holding up phones side-by-side with a coin being sent

AARP (Getty Images, 4)

Editors invite AARP members and readers to submit pressing personal technology questions they’d like me to tackle in my Tech Guru column, including issues around devices, security, social media and how all the puzzle pieces fit together. This week, I’m addressing apps that substitute for cash payments. 

A friend recently said she could “Venmo me” to pay back money I had loaned her, but I don’t have the app. I’m noticing other friends are doing the same with Venmo, Cash App and similar apps. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I still carry and use cash. Am I behind the eight ball?

You are not alone. While it’s true that more and more folks are paying in digital fashion these days, and payments made with cash have been declining, plenty of people like you are still relying on coins and paper currency, at least some of the time.

In 2024, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta reported that 83 percent of U.S. consumers surveyed nationwide had used cash at least once in the prior 30 days, versus 35 percent for people who wrote a paper check during that period. And cash topped the use of a credit or charge card (72 percent), debit card (67 percent), online banking bill payment (56 percent) and bank account number payments (44 percent).

I still use cash to pay my barber — it’s the only form of payment he takes. But I Venmo money to a friend with whom I share New York Giants season tickets. Meanwhile, the guy who cuts my lawn recently started requesting payments via Zelle.

Easier to pay

Indeed, Apple Cash, Cash App, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle and other so-called “peer-to-peer” (P2P) payment platforms or money transfer apps are gaining traction, and the number one benefit for many users is convenience. In a 2022 online survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 55 percent of people above age 50 who have ever used one of these apps cited “makes paying for things easier” as a major reason.

It’s often small transactions: You can use apps to split a dinner bill or cab fare, pay a house cleaner or local merchants. You can also spend more than a few dollars and pay bigger businesses.

Treat it like cash

Understandably, some older adults are resistant to using cash apps. About two-thirds of the 50-plus respondents who said they never used payment apps and sites in the Pew survey indicated that they “don’t trust them with their money.”

In an AARP survey released in 2024, 84 percent of adults 50-plus indicated a desire for P2P platforms to reimburse them for any loss. And 8 in 10 said they would welcome alerts if more than the designated amount was withdrawn from their accounts, as well as temporary holds while suspicious transactions were being investigated.

You have sound reasons to keep your guard up and only send money to friends, family or other people that you trust. The apps don’t carry the same security protections as, say, a credit card. If you accidentally pay too much or pay the wrong person, for example, or unwittingly pay a scammer, you’ll typically have little or no recourse for getting the money back. It’s like being robbed, or losing cash on the street. Sadly, the loot is likely gone for good, so treat such transactions as if you were indeed using cash.

Six percent of people surveyed by Consumer Reports in 2022 said they accidentally sent money to the wrong person, which can happen when you mistype a name or phone number or need to send money to a person with a common name. You can’t expect the same privacy as when paying with cash, either.

Each app has different features, but the basic idea is that you can exchange money with a person or business that also has or accepts the app.

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For its part, Zelle is already used by more than 2,200 bank and credit union apps, so if you already have a banking app with one of those financial institutions, there’s a great chance you can pay with Zelle through that app. Through Zelle, you can make digital transfers from one bank account to another.    

Apple Cash is built into the Wallet app on the iPhone, but you can also send Apple Cash through the Messages app on the device.

Venmo lets you buy or receive cryptocurrency.

Setting up cash payment substitutes

I’ll use Cash App as a proxy for how P2P apps generally work, but again, keep in mind that each has its own wrinkles.

Ask the Tech Guru         

To get started with the free Cash App, download it onto your phone and sign in with the device’s phone number. Cash App is also available on the web, but that version has fewer features.

Next, you must link to an external debit card from which you can move money into and out of your Cash App balance. The company says this is secured by encryption.

During setup, you must supply your legal name and date of birth, then choose a $cashtag, the name you will use for sending or receiving money.

Cash App asks if you want to sync your contacts to see which people you know may also be using the app. If you don’t want to bug all your friends and family, you can skip this part.

Before you can make payments or purchases, you must fund the account, which comes from the debit account you previously linked to.

Click the Money tab at the bottom left corner of the app, then Add money. You can tap $10, $25, $50, $100 or $200 as presets, or enter a custom amount. You also have the option to Deposit paper money at nearby retailers, bank through direct deposit or use an optional Cash App Visa card, which Cash App says carries no fees and works wherever Visa is accepted.

Once your account is properly funded, go to the Payments tab ($) to send or receive money. For a given transaction, add the amount you want to send or receive, tap Request or Pay, and enter the recipient’s name, email, phone number or their own $cashtag.

If the person you are sending money to is not yet part of Cash App, an invitation will automatically be sent to have them join.

Cash App requires you to add a note explaining what the payment is for.

And if someone pays you money through Cash App rather than the other way around, you can withdraw funds from your linked payment method.

Extra steps for security

If you send or receive more than $1,000 over a 30-day period or send more than $1,500 in total, Cash App says it takes further steps to verify your identity. For instance, you may have to provide the last four digits of your Social Security number, and sometimes the full number. You may also have to provide a copy of an unexpired government ID.

Cash App says any information you submit is encrypted and sent securely to the company’s servers. You can proactively go into Cash App settings to require a PIN or Touch ID before a payment can be completed.

Inside the settings, you can also block accounts you don’t want to exchange money with, and determine whether to allow anyone, just your contacts or no one to request money from you.

If you’re not sure you’re sending money to the right person, just send a dollar or two via an app to confirm before sending over the rest of what you owe.

Private or public in Venmo. Cash App does not provide a public feed option to let anyone see the transactions you’ve made within the app, a feature Venmo makes available. Of course, if you are using Venmo, keep this in mind: Make sure to tap the button on the right of that app’s pay screen to indicate that the transaction is private if that is indeed your preference.

Bonus tip: Pool money with your pals

Say you and a bunch of buddies are planning a trip together or going in on a birthday or retirement gift for a friend. You can pool your money through these apps.

To start collecting contributions in Cash App, tap Pool, enter an amount, and the reason behind the pool. Next, tap Start | Add people. As before, enter the name, $cashtag, email or phone number of the person added to this group effort. The organizer can also share a link with anyone else who has Cash App and can even reach outside the app to bring in people from Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Pooling money works a bit differently in Venmo. Tap Me at the bottom right corner of the screen, then click Create a group | Get started | Next. Venmo will split the money automatically, tally up the totals and settle any differences. 

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Edward C. Baig covers technology and other consumer topics. He previously worked for USA Today, BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report and Fortune, and is author of Macs for Dummies and coauthor of iPhone for Dummies and iPad for Dummies. Follow him on LinkedIn; Threads; and X, formerly known as Twitter.