Simple’s MoneyDrop Will Soon Let Users Transfer Funds Using Bluetooth

Things seem to have been moving rather smoothly for the folks at online banking startup Simple. They’ve spent the last year fleshing out their mobile apps with some much-needed features and added some 25,000 customers to their ranks since July. Now the team is looking to add yet another feature to the fold in the coming months: Simple-to-Simple fund transfers.

Yeah, fine, I’ll admit the concept doesn’t immediately sound like a game-changer. Just as the name implies, Simple customers will be able to quickly exchange sums of money from directly within the app, a stark contrast from some of the clunkier peer-to-peer transfer methods used by competitors like Chase or Wells Fargo. Considering the sort of oomph that recent updates have brought to Simple’s mobile apps, something like this was only a matter of time.

Here’s the catch, though — Simple’s iOS development team (which at this point only consists of two guys, Tom Wanielista and Collin Ruffenach) has figured out a clever way to facilitate those funds transfers when you’re physically near your recipient. It’s called MoneyDrop, and with it Simple hopes to do away with the need for paper money entirely.

Those are bold words to be sure, but I caught a brief glimpse of the new feature in action and it seems to get the job done smoothly even in its unfinished state. The feature allows Simple customers to detect other ones nearby using Bluetooth Low Energy, and all local compatible users will be displayed in what Simple calls the Arena.

Source: TechCrunch