Let’s say you are out to lunch with some millenial friends, one of whom picks up the check and says, “Just send me your share via Apple Pay Cash.” Say what?

Apple Pay Cash is Apple’s new person-to-person payment service, designed to make it easy for individuals to send and receive money. It’s perfect for repaying a friend who buys concert tickets or a relative who picks up some groceries for you. Or rather, it’s perfect if your friends and relatives use iPhones with iOS 11.2 or later—for green-bubble Android acquaintances, you can rely instead on cross-platform services like Venmo, Circle, and Square Cash. I’ve been sending money to my granddaughter at BU with Apple Pay Cash instead of Venmo and it works great..

Here’s how to start using Apple Pay Cash:

First, if you haven’t yet enabled Apple Pay, go to Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay > Add Credit or Debit Card, and follow the prompts to add at least a debit card. You will also need two-factor authentication turned on in Settings > Your Name > Password & Security—regardless of Apple Pay, two-factor authentication is essential for security. With Apple Pay enabled, tap Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay > Apple Pay Cash and run through the setup process. You might also be asked to verify your identity after setup—it just might be necessary to send or receive more than $500 in total for that really fancy meal you are having.

When you’re done, you’ll end up with a new Apple Pay Cash card in the Wallet app. It’s a virtual card that stores money you receive and works like any other debit card for payments. If it doesn’t have enough money on it to cover a payment, you can choose any other debit or credit card you’ve added to Apple Pay. You can also add money to it or withdraw money to a linked bank account. You’ll want to use a debit card when adding money or paying beyond your balance with Apple Pay Cash, since then there is no transaction fee. A credit card incurs a 3% fee.

To send or request money via Apple Pay Cash, you use Messages. While in an iMessage thread (blue bubbles) with the person with whom you want to exchange money, make sure the app drawer is showing (tap the app button if necessary) and then tap the Apple Pay button in the drawer.

A panel appears with a dollar amount, + and – buttons, and buttons for Request and Pay. Use the + and – buttons to set the amount, or tap the dollar amount to show a keypad where you can enter an exact amount, with cents if necessary. Then tap Request or Pay to insert the transaction into the message. It won’t be sent until you tap the black send button, so if you change your mind, you can tap the little x to delete. Lastly, you’ll be prompted to verify the transaction in the usual Apple Pay fashion, which means authenticating with Face ID on the iPhone X or Touch ID on all other iPhones.

You can even use Siri to initiate transfers—“Send my mother $15.” or “Ask my sister for $4.99.” And if you have an Apple Watch with watchOS 4.2 or later, you can also send money from the Messages app, or send or request money via Siri. On the watch, double-press the side button to confirm the transaction.

The recipient can store their money on their Apple Pay Cash card and use that to pay for stuff or transfer right into their bank account. I discovered when sending money to Khadija, that it takes 3-4 days for the money to be successfully transferred to the bank account so if you need immediate cash that might not be the best way.

Frankly, the only downside to Apple Pay Cash is that it works only within the Apple world. But as long as you want to exchange money with Apple-using friends and relatives, it’s fast, easy, reliable, and one less reason to visit the ATM.

Move over Echo and Google Home, HomePod is officially available today for pre-order from Apple, and, in the coming weeks, we hope to be able to offer it as well. In the meantime, let’s take a closer look at HomePod. HomePod is a music system, a note taker, a translator, a timer and the hub of your home with its HomeKit controls. Unlike some of the other smart speakers on the market, Apple is focusing on Music with this new product. The HomePod acts like just about every other smart speaker, but what makes it a step above the rest is in the sound quality.

HomePod is just under 7 inches tall and features a seven-tweeter beamforming array which allows better control of the sound and produces a more room-filling sound. It also has a large woofer for deep, clean bass. HomePod can adjust the sound accordingly, be it sitting on a shelf or sitting on a table. It can also adapt to the acoustics of the room giving you the best sound quality possible based on the environment the HomePod is in. You will also be able to add multiple HomePods to a room for stereo effect.

HomePod is smarter than regular speakers with its A8 chip, which provides it with processing power equivalent to an iPhone 6. Software running on the HomePod gives it spatial awareness, so it can sense it’s surroundings and adjust the audio quality automatically for the best listening experience. You can use Siri to easily set timers to remind you it’s time to flip your burgers, and its six microphones ensure it doesn’t miss a request. You can ask Siri to read you the news, let you know the weather forecast and even transfer a phone call to the HomePod. Not to worry, if you prefer the comfort of buttons, HomePod has basic buttons and you can either single, double or triple tap to get it to play/pause, skip tracks and more. In software updates scheduled for later this year, you’ll be able to control multiple HomePods in different rooms as well as the feature of stereo mode when you have more than one in a room.

But wait, what about controlling your lights? HomePod aims to put your Google Home and Echo into retirement, so, of course, it can do that! Hopefully, you made sure all your smart home devices were compatible with both HomeKit and your smart speaker. Your HomePod will control your devices the same way you’re controlling them through AppleTV and Siri with one exception. Now you can put down the remote, and just say “hey Siri” without worry of needing your phone nearby or what to do if your Apple Watch is still on its charger.

I am eagerly awaiting the side by side comparison between my Echo and my new HomePod!

Motorcycle mechanics, yard work, crafts fair, Academy Awards movies and a party are all on tap this weekend down here in Key West. I am going to build a foundation for the garden shed we are replacing and we have to hit our favorite garden center up in Big Pine for some plants to grow on our newly installed trellis.

I wish I had a HomePod but I guess I have to wait until Apple decides that their partners are worthy of selling this new product. I understand that Apple has its own outlets and that those guys with the blue shirts are a big customer, but I would expect a little more loyalty to the channel that stuck with Apple during the darkest hours and are the most adamant evangelists for the brand. But then again, the older I get the more patient I become (isn’t that sorta backwards?) and I know it won’t be long before HomePod is on our shelves.

Thank you so much for being loyal customers of Small Dog Electronics and for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

Don & Emily