Square Cash Adds Bluetooth Feature for Finding Users

Square has launched a feature called "Nearby Payments" to Square Cash for iOS 8, allowing users to send money through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

"Cash's nearby payment feature makes paying friends and family easier than ever whether across the dinner table or across the room," said Square in an Oct. 7 press release. Square said the feature streamlines payments from dinner bills, work outings, concert tickets and sporting events.

The feature is only available for iOS 8. The app can detect users within 250 feet of the sender or receiver, and users can decide whether to allow anyone in the same space to detect them or only friends.

When a user requests money from another user, a push notification will appear on the anticipated payer's phone. The new update allows the payer to swipe a push notification to either approve or reject a payment request.

Square launched Cash in October last year as a person-to-person payment system that allows users to send money with only a debit card and recipient email address. Transactions are free to send and receive within the app and are deposited directly into users' bank accounts. In August, Square overhauled the P2P service to make it more useful as an app-based product.

A number of companies, including PayPal  and shopkick, have deployed BLE technology over the past year, taking advantage of the technology's range to improve content delivered through payment apps in stores.