Zelle drops standalone app: Now what?

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Zelle drops standalone app: Now what?

Zelle is a popular peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfer service. It allows customers of U.S. banks and credit unions to transfer money to other U.S. deposit accounts at a near-instant speed. And on top of that, most customers don’t have to pay any fees for the service.

Zelle’s standalone app is gone

But as of April 1, Zelle users can no longer use its standalone app to send or receive money, Finder reports. You can still log in to the app until Aug. 11, but you can no longer send or receive money with it.

So, what does this mean for users who don’t have access to Zelle in their existing banking app?

If you want to keep using Zelle, you’re out of luck unless you use a bank that supports Zelle. The service is integrated with over 2,200 banks and credit unions, including large institutions such as Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Discover, Fifth Third, SoFi, TD Bank and Wells Fargo.

Why is the Zelle app gone?

Zelle says it discontinued support for its standalone app due to very low usage. In October 2024, Zelle said in an announcement, “With the strong growth of adoption by banks and credit unions, we now see just ~2% of transactions on the standalone app.”

Alternatives to Zelle

Zelle might be popular, but it’s not the ideal money-moving app for everyone. Zelle doesn’t support international transactions and can only be used with U.S.-based deposit accounts, such as checking or savings accounts. This limitation also means you can’t use Zelle to send money via a credit card.

Here are other P2P apps to consider:

• Cash App. Connect external bank accounts to send money to other Cash App users. It also has other products, including tax filing, a debit card, teen banking and investing. There are no fees to send or receive money to other users, but you’ll pay a convenience fee for instantly depositing your Cash App balance to your linked account.
• Venmo. It’s very similar to Cash App but with more of a social aspect. It has a feed that shows public transactions from friends and family you’ve added on the app. Similar to Cash App and Zelle, there are no fees to send or receive money to other users, but it has an instant cash-out fee for sending your Venmo balance to your linked account.
• PayPal. One of the most popular money apps out there, PayPal supports domestic and international transactions and is one of the most widely used payment methods in the world. It also offers debit and credit cards.

Is Zelle safe?

The risk with P2P apps doesn’t have much to do with their own security. These apps typically use bank-level encryption to protect your data. However, they don’t offer the same consumer protections as credit cards or some bank transfers, and your balance isn’t likely to be FDIC-insured in the app itself.

But the biggest risk with P2P apps like Zelle is accidentally sending money to the wrong person or getting scammed by someone. Since Zelle transactions are near-instant, you can’t cancel payments after you’ve approved them—so if you send cash to the wrong person, you’re screwed.

To stay safe, double-check recipient details before hitting send and don’t send money to strangers. You can also enable extra security features like multifactor authentication, Face ID and transaction alerts to keep your account more secure.

Bottom line

Due to low usage, Zelle has discontinued support for its standalone app. While you can still technically open the app until August 2025, you can’t send or receive money with the service unless you have a U.S. bank account with one of its partner institutions.

This story was produced by Finder and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.