Have you ever considered the power of peer-to-peer payment technology in your hands? The P2P payment market size has grown rapidly from $2.95 billion in 2023 to $3.4 billion in 2024, paving the way for a promising future in the financial sector. 

As we set foot into 2024, embracing this trend could be transformative, not just for consumers but for savvy entrepreneurs and developers alike. But the question remains, how to create a mobile payment app that stands out?

Understanding payment apps: definition and types

An online payment app is software that enables the electronic transfer of funds between individuals, businesses, or entities. Its primary purpose is to streamline financial transactions, offering a convenient and efficient alternative to traditional payment methods.

When considering how to build a payment app, it is crucial to include essential features like account management, transaction history tracking, and strong user authentication to protect sensitive financial information.

Additionally, modern payment apps use advanced technologies such as encryption and biometrics to enhance user privacy and prevent unauthorized access. This highlights the importance of prioritizing security and help understand how to build a payment app.

Types of payment apps

There are four main types of payment apps: standalone payment apps, bank-centric payment apps, social media payment services, and mobile payment applications. 

Type	Definition	Purpose	Examples
Mobile payment apps	Enable users to make transactions using their mobile devices.	Facilitates payments for goods and services, through mobile platforms.	Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay.
P2P payment apps	Facilitate direct fund transfers between individuals.	Simplifies splitting bills and sharing expenses without the need for physical cash	Venmo, Cash App, PayPal.
Digital wallets	Store payment information and provide transactions both online and offline.	Consolidate payment methods and provide a secure platform for transactions.	PayPal, Apple Wallet, Google Wallet.
Cryptocurrency wallets	Store and manage digital assets, facilitating transactions with various cryptocurrencies.	Supports secure storage, sending, and receiving of digital currencies like Bitcoin, and Ethereum.	Coinbase, Blockchain.info, Exodus.
Banking apps	Provide customers with access to their accounts and various banking services.	Allows users to transfer funds, pay bills, and manage finances through a mobile application.	Bank of America Mobile Banking, Wells Fargo Mobile.
Retail and merchant apps	Enable users to make purchases directly from businesses or retailers.	Streamlines the shopping experience by offering in-app payments, and loyalty programs.	Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks.

Understanding how to build a payment app involves considering the specific needs and preferences of users. By exploring the examples of different types of payment apps you can make informed decisions in creating a successful and user-friendly payment application.

Must-have features to build a payment app

Building a payment app requires a strategic and comprehensive approach. Selecting the right type of payment app is crucial as it influences the overall development strategy and ensures the app meets market demands. Here are 8 steps that can help understand how to build a payment app that meets the evolving demands of the financial technology landscape:

Peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions

Users should be able to send and receive money effortlessly, whether they are splitting bills, repaying loans, or sharing expenses.

Bill payments

This feature should include bill reminders and scheduled payment options.

Transaction notifications

Real-time notifications are essential to keep users informed about every transaction conducted through the app. These notifications instill confidence, offer transparency, and help users track their financial activities.

International remittance

Enabling users to send money internationally with ease, international remittance features are crucial for users with global financial transactions. This feature should provide cost-effective and efficient cross-border money transfers.

Multi-currency support

Users engaging in international transactions or dealing with foreign currencies should have the flexibility to operate in various currencies.

Expense tracking

Going beyond mere transaction history, expense tracking features help users manage their finances effectively. This involves categorizing transactions, providing insights into spending patterns, and offering a holistic view of financial activities.

Customer support

Offer users various channels for support, including live chat, email, and helpline, ensuring accessibility and convenience.

10 Steps to create a payment app

Building a payment app requires a strategic and comprehensive approach. Here are 10 steps that can help you clarify how to create a mobile payment app that meets the evolving demands of the financial technology landscape:

1. Define your objectives and target audience

When considering how to create a payment app, it’s essential to clearly outline the purpose of your payment app and identify your target audience. Specify whether your payment app aims to facilitate peer-to-peer transactions, enhance in-store mobile payments, or streamline online purchases.

You can also conduct surveys or user interviews to understand the pain points and preferences of your target audience. If your app targets international transactions, consider features such as multi-currency support or integration with global payment systems.

2. Conduct market research

Understanding the market trends and conducting thorough market research is crucial when exploring how to create a payment app that meets the needs of users. Research the current market trends, competitor apps, and user expectations. Identify unique selling points and potential gaps in the market that your payment app can address. For example, it is essential to research the most popular payment apps like Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Cash App to understand why users prefer specific apps that help in tailoring your to meet similar expectations.

Market research can also help you focus on key payment app trends like contactless payments, cryptocurrency integration, and BNPL service for building a standalone digital product. For instance, Apple Pay rolled out its version of “buy now, pay later in 2023. 

Source: LA Times

3. Define payment app features and requirements

The third step is to determine what functionalities you need and how you will integrate them into your app. We have mentioned above must-have features for the payment app, but you can add the necessary functionality specifically for your product.

Beyond the essential features mentioned earlier, here are some advanced features you might consider incorporating into your payment app: contactless payments, biometric authentication, social payments, and cryptocurrency integration.

4. Legal compliance and security

Ensuring the legal compliance and security of your payment app is paramount to building trust among users. Specifically, in the European Union, strict adherence to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is imperative. This involves implementing robust measures to safeguard user data and privacy.

To further fortify your app’s integrity, incorporate tools dedicated to detecting and preventing suspicious transactions. This proactive approach not only enhances user security but also ensures compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards.

The inclusion of a Know Your Customer (KYC) module within SDK.finance seamlessly integrates identity verification process secure payment apps. This feature not only aligns with regulatory requirements but also contributes to the overall security and transparency of your payment application.

5. Choose the right development strategy

Financial software development is a complex process that requires technical expertise and deep understanding of specific industry standards. There are two primary ways how to build a payment app:

Build software from scratch

Building from scratch allows for complete customization, ensuring the application meets your specific requirements. You have full control over the development process, allowing for flexibility and adjustments as needed. However, the process can be time-consuming and often involves higher initial costs due to the extensive time and resources required.

Use a ready-made FinTech Platform

If time-to-market is a priority, you can choose a ready-made software to reduce money transfer app development time and costs significantly. SDK.finance offers a cloud-based FinTech Platform to fast-track your mobile payment app development.  With our mobile wallet software, you get a powerful foundation that can help you launch your app faster and scale it effectively for different types of mobile wallets.

6. Configurate environments

SDK.finance infrastructure consists of 3 servers: developers instance (for development and testing of the software); production instance (live operation server with end-users and real operations); pre-production or Sandbox (infrastructure with the same specs as the production instance used for debugs of integrations with third-party components).

7. Design a user-friendly interface

Creating a payment app with an exceptional user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) is paramount for ensuring user satisfaction and adoption on mobile platforms. Below we highlight examples of payment apps with user-friendly UI/UX:

Intuitive navigation

Apple Pay exemplifies intuitive navigation with a straightforward process. Users can access the app easily, add payment methods seamlessly, and initiate transactions effortlessly.

Source: Support Apple

Efficient onboarding

Cash App provides a streamlined onboarding process, guiding users through account setup and linking their bank accounts. The app’s simplicity and clarity contribute to a positive first-time user experience.

Source: Sneakersapps.com

Personalization and customization

PayPal allows users to customize their account settings and preferences. This personalization contributes to a user-centric design, accommodating individual preferences within the app.

Source: PayPal

Therefore, prioritizing a user-friendly interface, personalization, and streamlined onboarding process are essential in the development of a successful payment app

8. Infrastructure management

Decide whether to manage databases on your servers or utilize cloud-based solutions. The choice between solutions depends on factors such as scalability needs, resource availability, and the level of control desired.

In a self-managed approach, you maintain and operate databases like MySQL, and PostgreSQL on your servers, giving you full control over infrastructure and configurations.

Cloud-based database services, such as AWS or Azure handle infrastructure management, backups, and scaling. These services offer automatic scalability based on demand, accommodating growth seamlessly.

SDK.finance solution is available on the AWS cloud infrastructure, which features top-notch resilience, and security and meets the strictest regulatory requirements. Apart from a range of physical security measures protecting the data centers, AWS infrastructure is compliant with numerous third-party assurance frameworks, like PCI-DSS, EU Data Protection Directive, GDPR, etc. More info about SDK.finance technology is here. 

9. Integrate payment gateways

You need to select a payment gateway that aligns with your payment app’s requirements and supports the payment methods you want to offer (credit cards, bank transfers, digital wallets, etc.). 

It is essential to focus on the following factors: the payment gateway features (for example, it also must have features to support various payment methods, including credit/debit cards, mobile wallets, and bank transfers, to cater to a diverse user base), its compliance and API documentation and security measures.

You can build integrations with third-party services and providers leveraging the SDK. finance API-first approach. With 400+ API endpoints, the process becomes more streamlined and cost-efficient. We also provide out-of-the-box integrations for payment acceptance, card issuance, and KYC compliance. Here you can find more information about integrations. 

10. Launch your payment app

Once integration is complete, deploy your payment app to the chosen platform. It is also important to monitor its performance and gather user feedback during the initial launch phase to make necessary adjustments.

Payment apps powered by SDK.finance

One example of the successful implementation of SDK.finance’s Platform is MPAY’s transformation from a cash-based business to a modern offline and online service provider. MPAY integrated cash-in payment kiosks located across Azerbaijan and other countries, into a unified ecosystem using SDK.finance’s platform. 

This integration not only improved operational efficiency but also helped MPAY to add new functionalities and services as they expanded their network. SDK.finance’s role in providing a flexible and customizable general ledger layer was instrumental in structuring MPAY’s business processes and enabling smooth scalability.

Furthermore, MPAY’s partnership with SDK.finance allowed the creation of a multi-channel platform, which catered to different customer needs and market trends. This collaboration empowered MPAY to introduce new vendors, enhance client management systems, and establish role-based access controls within the payment app ecosystem. SDK.finance’s expertise facilitated the seamless integration.

Watch the SDK.finance mobile app UI of our platform, designed to help you create secure and feature-rich financial experiences in record time:

 

Conclusion

With SDK.finance FinTech solution you can build a p2p payment app faster and more cost effective. Hosted and deployed in the cloud, the SDK.finance platform provides a hassle-free way of running a payment application at an affordable cost and without maintenance headaches. If you’re wondering how to build a payment app that aligns with your product vision, contact us to see how SDK.finance can support your needs.