Apple Pay Cash to Feature Document Verification System

Apple Pay’s forthcoming peer-to-peer payment system will require users to scan an ID card in order to set it up, suggest newly discovered lines of code in the iOS 11 beta.

Apple confirmed that it was working on a P2P payments service for its Messages app in June. The service is meant to essentially let Apple users text money transfers to each other, or even send them by voice command via Siri, Apple’s AI assistant.

Now, code in the iOS 11 beta is offering some more hints about the service, including its name, Apple Pay Cash. One line of code includes a prompt for the user reading, “Position your driver’s license or photo ID in the frame,” with another line suggesting that users won’t be able to send or receive money with friends if their identity can’t be confirmed.

That could point to an important role for Pearl ID, the facial recognition system anticipated for Apple’s next iPhone, which could be used to compare the user’s face to the one pictured on the identity document. And that, in turn, would suggest that iOS 11 will bring document recognition capabilities to users’ devices.

Another line of code says that “Apple Pay Cash works best with a debit card,” suggesting that Apple hasn’t been able to cut a deal with credit card partners to reduce or eliminate fees from their transactions on the service.

Sources: AppleInsider, 9to5Mac