For users to download apps and setup payments.

Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Financial Planning Financial Software. By Eric Rosenberg. Eric Rosenberg is a financial writer with more than a decade of experience working in banking and corporate accounting. He specializes in writing about cryptocurrencies, investing and banking among other personal finance topics.

Learn about our editorial policies. Fact checked by Maya Dollarhide. Best Payment Apps View All. Best Payment Apps. Compare Apps. What Is a Payment App? How Does a Payment App Work? Is a Payment App Worth the Cost? Best Overall : PayPal. Sign Up Now. What We Like Its mobile application is extremely user-friendly It is simple and free to set up a PayPal account If you send money to a family member, there are no fees PayPal's strong encryption technology keeps accounts secure.

Best for Friends : Venmo. What We Like Venmo is designed to work from your smartphone An easy way to split the bill with friends and family Instant transfers option. What We Like Easy to link your bank account via a debit card Offers users a digital wallet You can sell and buy Bitcoin via the app. Best for Banking : Zelle.

What We Like Most large banks like Chase and Wells Fargo offer Zelle You can send money from your laptop via banking websites or your smartphone Offers same-day transfers There are no fees for sending or receiving money via Zelle.

What We Don't Like Either the recipient of the funds or the sender both must have access to Zelle through their bank account You can only send funds via Zelle from one designated bank account. Best for Google Accounts : Google Pay. What We Don't Like It is not as widely accepted as other payment apps Can take hours to receive funds with debit cards and 3 to 5 days with bank accounts. Best for Social Media : Facebook Messenger. What We Like Facebook account users can send money easily to businesses and friends who are on Facebook Your payment information is kept private unlike some other apps that have a public option Easy to use from your Facebook chat experience.

What We Don't Like It takes up to five business days to receive payment once it is accepted You need to have a Facebook profile to use it You have to link your debit card to your Facebook account. Article Sources. Your Privacy Rights. To actually get the funds from the credit card to your bank account requires the second part, a merchant account.

The merchant account is a bank account that processes the credit card and collects payment and sends it to your bank account. You need both a payment gateway and a merchant account to complete a credit card transaction.

To further simplify this process there are companies that combine the two steps. Companies like Square, Stripe, and even Paypal, will do this for your site. By having a separate merchant account and payment gateway, you can get the fees down to 1. Therefore, larger companies almost always have separate merchant accounts and payment gateways. Companies like Authorize. Many, if not most, of the apps we develop at Woodridge use some form of public-facing marketing site, which is often built using WordPress.

The Web app that Woodridge will build will typically not be WordPress, as our apps tend to have far more features and are more robust than a platform like WordPress can support. So a very common case is that there are two websites — a WordPress or other CMS website for marketing and the Web App for the technology. This is not inherently a problem and it generally makes the most sense. So why not use WordPress to collect the payment?

WordPress has some very slick e-commerce capabilities that make it easy to collect payment, such as the WooCommerce plugin. With little to no technical knowledge, you can set this up. However, if your app is subscription-based as most are these days , you now will need to tie in your WordPress database users with your mobile and web app database users, and this is not always seamless.

WordPress does have some single-sign-on SSO capabilities to make this easier and plugins like WooCommerce do an adequate job of supporting subscriptions, but integrating things like free trial periods and multiple payment options or supporting changes to the main account email start to get tricky when using WordPress to collect payment.

If you already have a CMS for your marketing site and your payment collection plans are simple, then it might be the way to go for your app. The old school method of simply setting up your customers with an account to your web or mobile app and then sending them an invoice is still completely valid. Simply send the customers an invoice.

This is particularly true if your customers are blue-chip types with whom you have a good relationship. Your pricing model is not proven. Will your subscription idea work or will your customers prefer a one-time license? You can save development costs by starting out with a straightforward traditional invoicing plan. Things change. Often, you may think one option is the best when you first plan your app, only to find another option is the one your customers prefer. When you redownload an app, you don't have to pay for it again.

If the App Store is missing on your device, you might have parental controls turned on. The App Store should reappear on your device. If you still can't find the App Store, search for it. Information about products not manufactured by Apple, or independent websites not controlled or tested by Apple, is provided without recommendation or endorsement. Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the selection, performance, or use of third-party websites or products. Apple makes no representations regarding third-party website accuracy or reliability.

Contact the vendor for additional information. How to get apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch How to find apps that you bought If you can't find the App Store If you have an issue when you download apps Get help with an app that does not work. Browse or search for the app that you want to download. Tap or click the price or Get button. If you see the "Open" button instead of a price or Get button, you already bought or downloaded that app.